The Challenge: Get Rowdy With the Rest of the Crowd
The day before Mother’s Day was a glorious day on Long Island; not knowing if the weather would hold up the next day, I decided it would be best to do the activities I wanted to do on my special day Saturday instead: go out to lunch and walk over to the playground to push Weston on some swings.
Huntington is a town full of family-friendly restaurants and pubs, so I decided this was a perfect opportunity to complete Rookie Mom’s challenge #30, Stumble Into a Family-Friendly Pub. Now, Heather and Whitney claim, “Bars that serve food also service babies. Many of them have noise levels that will enable your family to blend right in”¦.Pull up a high chair and get rowdy with the rest of the crowd.”
I wasn’t sure whether to believe them or not, so I went into this challenge a bit skeptical, but with an open mind.
We decided on Meehans, a restaurant and pub in town, which has just undergone gorgeous renovations. One of these upgrades was to open up the entire front of the restaurant, so you could sit inside, but essentially, be outside as well. This was the perfect blend of atmospheres for my inquisitive, people-watcher son. He could sit out of the sun while watching the cars, trucks, and people go by. We moved some chairs around to make room for the high chair, and even though we were quite loud and galumphing, no one complained or gave us nasty looks!
Hitting the Bottle (baby-style)
We sat down, and the boy hit the bottle–the formula bottle–while we ordered burgers and iced tea. A baby boy around the same age as Weston sat down at the table next to us; our son was overjoyed to have a buddy and waved, clapped, and shouted to him. I didn’t bring any food for him to eat, but I ordered avocado on my burger, and had the patient waiter double my avocado. When the food came, we let Weston munch on a sour pickle, while I mashed up my avocado for him to eat. It wasn’t overly loud in the restaurant, but loud enough to cover the sound of the bottle and toys dropping over and over, as well as Weston’s excited screeching. When he started to fuss, we took him on our laps, and as long as he could watch the other baby and cars, he was entertained and let us eat.
So, We Got Rowdy!
People tell you when you’re nine months pregnant to go out to dinner as much as possible because it’s not the same with a baby”¦.and sure, it’s obviously not the same. I like to think of eating out with a baby like eating-while-on-a-boat. It’s not necessarily the most relaxing journey ever, but it’s doable, with some juggling, lots of quick hand maneuvers, and picking the right place to eat. It was a lovely Mother’s Day lunch, and it was so special because we didn’t have to stress about being quiet, Weston sitting in his seat the whole time, and not throwing toys.
Heather and Whitney were indeed right: getting rowdy with the rest of the crowd is actually more enjoyable and relaxing than boating against the rough waters and trying to be the perfect dinner patrons.
What challenge are you working on?
[Photo credit: Olivia Howell — all rights reserved]
Find more baby activities with the 52 weekly rookie mom challenges.
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