Know Your Limits

Pursuant to a recent post on dining out with babes, I’m writing fresh on the heels of dinner out with the babe. It was time to give her another chance. We hit Tu Y Yo in Somerville where the staff is friendly and courteous and our waitress was especially kind. When I ordered a glass of milk for the babe and was fumbling around for the sippy cup, the waitress offered to fill the cup up directly. When she returned, it was clear – from the warmth of the cup and the lack of peanut butter stains – that she had washed out the sippy cup before filling it up. I truly was touched.

The food at Tu Y Yo is terrific; I just wish I had had a chance to really enjoy it. In reality, the babe was super; she sat in the booster seat for about 15-20 minutes entertaining herself with a saltshaker. In retrospect, we probably should have used this time to walk her around and saved the saltshaker for dinner time. When the food arrived, she picked a little, but otherwise was ready to be up and toddling around. We spent the next 15 minutes trying to wolf down our food, entertain her, and keep her from petting the man sitting behind us.
While obviously it is possible to eat out with kids (and a good thing to have them experience), it just isn’t that relaxing if you’re really into food. My husband and I love talking about food, being mindful of flavors, and thinking about recipes; it’s tough to do that with a little one to entertain. The other issue is that we tend to be overconsiderate; anytime the babe was just being a toddler (e.g., loudly exclaiming "no!" for no reason, trying to pet the man behind us, banging on the table) we got ramped up with worry about other people in the restaurant. The reality was probably that no one cared, and for every typical "negative" toddler moment, we had a really sweet one: for example, when she kept saying "thank you!" and waving to the waitress after the milk cup delivery.

I should say that the food at Tu Y Yo is terrific: authentic, flavorful, and colorfully balanced. We plan to visit again soon, likely on date night so we can deal with our foodie, overconsiderate hangups without faulting the babe.