Taking a toddler to a restaurant

If your toddler is anything like mine, and refuses to sit in a high chair in restaurants, then this post maybe very much relevant to you.

My daughter was 5 months when we took her to Goa. 

Me and my husband love the breakfast buffets in hotels, and planned to enjoy it in the hotel we were staying.

We took our baby and sat on a sofa, with her on my lap.

(TIP#1 : We didn't take her pram to Goa, reason being it was a big size pram which would be very difficult to carry in the flight, so if you plan to travel frequently, buy a lightweight stroller as opposed to a pram).

If we had her pram, we could have kept her in it and probably (not very sure) might have enjoyed our food in peace.

She was crying, trying to pull things (yes even at 5 months), one of us had to take her around while the other ate. From the next day, we decided to go separately and each of us took turns to go to the breakfast place and enjoyed in peace :-)

After this episode, we avoided taking her out for a very long time. 

But we realized the only way she would let us eat out is if she gets used to it. So we decided to take her along the next time we go eating out.

Next time we took her to Rajdhani thali restaurant, she was a little older, could walk (!!) and refused to sit at one place. Me and my husband took turns eating, but it was a thali restaurant, all the food went cold and it was not an enjoyable experience at all!

(TIP#2 : Thali restaurants can wait until the child is older)

Not to be deterred, we planned to go to a restaurant called Fresco, which has a Mediterranean buffet.

My daughter sat on the high chair for a good half an hour! And also seemed to enjoy pita bread.

But once her tummy was full, she was all raring to go, and once out of the high chair, she was running all over the place. So again we were back to taking turns at eating.

(TIP#3: Choose a restaurant which has some open space, inside or outside, so if the little munchkin has feet that need to run around, one of you can take her outside.)

BTW, we tried Rajdhani again when we went with our family, i cannot say it was better, but somehow we managed to eat.

(TIP#4 : Kids love things like papads, so thats a good way to keep them busy)

We also tried Ramkrishna on MG Road once. We ordered cheese dosa for her, since she loves cheese. 

(TIP#5: Choose a table which has a sofa, not chairs, so she can be comfortable on it and you can make her sit towards the wall, so she is kind of, umm, trapped :-D)

We once went to a restaurant in the Taj blue diamond hotel, it was a nice maharashtrian food restaurant, with most people eating quietly. We had one challenging time there with my daughter trying to run around, pull stuff, and making general mayhem. So there I was eating all alone while my husband took my daughter outside and vice versa.

The waiters at restaurants don't realize that there is a toddler on the table and treat them just like adults, by placing very much breakable plates and sharp forks and spoons right under the kid's nose. So be quick and remove all such dangerous stuff far away, you need to be really fast here, because the things will be in the small chubby hands in a second :-).

One restaurant called Kokkita in hadapsar, has a huge aquarium with huge fish and also a small play area outside. It entertained my daughter no end, but it resulted in us eating separately yet again!

Over time, after taking her out several times, we have achieved the state where we can both eat, and maybe for 5-10 mins towards the end we need to take her around and eat one-by-one.

We avoid crowded places, but food courts in malls are also a good option to try, although it is very difficult to keep a toddler busy there, since they get so much space to run around :-D

So don't be afraid, go ahead and eat your heart out, your toddler will help you in burning all the fat  :-)

PS: I think i need to write about all the restaurants i have been to and review them :-)

Maid/Nanny for Baby - Part II

The search was a difficult one, time was running out and I had not yet found a nanny.
The nanny who was leaving, one day came with another lady, who said she needs work.
I thought why not, lets give it a try, I was desperate.

I decided on a transition period of about 10 days, where both will be taking care of the baby, with the old nanny doing KT (knowledge transfer, its the term we regularly use in our world :-)).
Even after spending 10 days, my daughter refused to go to the new nanny!
After the old nanny left, I decided to work from home for a few days, until my daughter adjusts to her.

A couple of days passed, and it was just not working out! My daughter would start crying if the new nanny tried to feed her, to put her to sleep etc. So I had to leave my work and go to her all the time, i was not really able to work from home.

It was a very frustrating time, I even thought of taking a sabbatical maybe and looking after my daughter myself.
But I knew it was not something I could really do, I cannot sit at home, and would surely get frustrated soon. Even in my maternity leave of 7 months, by the end of 4-5 months, i was itching to go out and have some space of my own.
Finally, I decided that the only way my daughter would get used to the nanny is by me getting out of the way. So one day, while she slept, i left for office, telling the nanny and my father-in-law to call me if she cries.
And what a day it was! I was constantly worried at work, looking at my phone every few minutes to see if there's a call. But what a surprise, there was none, my daughter stayed with the maid the whole day!!
And then from next day, i started going to office as usual and all was fine :-)

Since then, its been almost a year now with the new nanny, it has not been an easy journey. I have had to constantly monitor her actions, her cleanliness habits were clearly suspect, and her work not of the greatest quality.
There has been a lot of improvement now, and my daughter also enjoys with her, and learns marathi songs from her. Her favorite is "Chando mama chando mama bhaglas ka" which she asks me to sing every night when I put her to sleep. :-)