Family Dinner FAIL

We don't eat together as a family. We have a small house and so there is no room for a table in the kitchen. That's where Norah's high chair is and there is barely enough room to squeeze in a grown up chair. The dining room table sits atop hardwood floor and a (relatively) expensive rug and so not a baby friendly place to eat. BVZ also is very rarely home before she goes to bed, much less eats dinner. I generally fix her dinner and sit with her while she eats it and then BVZ and I eat together (at like 9'ish) once he gets home.

But, everything I read and hear from others is that family dinners should be encouraged, even at this young age. There was even something about it on the hand out we got from the pediatrician at Norah's 15 month visit. We see blog posts all the time about toddlers her age sitting with the rest of the family for a civilized meal. She has been getting better at eating with her fork and enjoys her 'under the sea' themed toddler plate, so I figured, what the hell. We'd give it a try.

I fixed a 'Sunday dinner' for all of us to eat together at her regular dinnertime. It was pretty dull--meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and green beans. Suffice it to say, dinner was not a success. After about 20 minutes, Norah hadn't actually swallowed a bite of her food, I was picking mashed potatoes out of my hair, and BVZ was scrubbing sauce out of the rug. We wised up, wiped her off, and plopped her down in her own chair where she happily ate a carton of yogurt, a croissant, some pears, and a bowl of cereal (whatever works). I am disappointed, but know that we have many years of family dinners left in us.

(BVZ wanted me to clarify that we went to Costco today--if that's not family bonding I don't know what is--and she ate samples of yogurt, corkscrew pasta, smoked salmon and creme cheese, some sort of hot pocket looking thing, a taquito, and apple cobbler. So maybe she just wasn't hungry).