Hungry Mama

Unless Lola or Grandma is around to help with Grace during mealtime, this mama usually ends up going hungry. Especially at restaurants. Tonight was the perfect example of why.

On the way home from visiting with the Hartigans, Uncle Ninong called to see if I wanted to check out a new sushi place for dinner with Uncle Josh and my BFF Josyl. I enthusiastically agreed.

From the moment we got to the restaurant, Grace immediately kicked into high maintenance mode- wanted to grab anything within her reach and throw it on the floor, let out piercing screams when she was denied the pleasure of grabbing things and throwing them on the floor, and required constant attention from me. Heaven forbid I try to carry on a conversation with anyone else. If I tried, I was punished with a protesting scream. The girl is petite, but her sounds are definitely not.

I quickly ordered our food and prayed that it would come out soon, hoping that stuffing her mouth with some dinner would prevent further screaming. Thankfully our order was at the table in no time. But the screams were only replaced with Grace yelling, "More, more, more!" I'm glad she enjoyed the shrimp tempura and Japanese noodles I ordered, but I was so stressed from trying to feed her fast enough for her liking.

Once she was full, she wanted to be released from the high chair. I tried to distract her as best as I could, but it was all to no avail. I took her out and sat her in the booth between me and Josyl, hoping that would satisfy her. But once she was out of the high chair, she wanted complete and total freedom. I finally had to admit defeat and said goodbye to Josyl and the Uncles. We left the restaurant before they had a chance to kick us out for being so unruly.

All this happened without my being able to take a single bite of food. I wish I could say that this scene is unusual, but sadly, this is how my meals at restaurants go these days. And why I'm almost always a hungry mama. When Lola or Grandma is there, the difference is they can distract Grace long enough so that I can quickly scarf down my meal.

I keep saying I need to stick with Chick-fil-a and not even bother with real deal restaurants until she's a little older, but I just never seem to learn my lesson. I guess it's that darn optimistic attitude of mine. Either that or I'm a slow learner.


Grace and Frank- friends since the womb!