My dinner date...

There has been a growing trend since Rohan has been able to eat dinner with us.  I am always sitting by his side.  I am the one who is attending to his needs at the dinner table.  Rohan is always my dinner date. My dinner date eats before everyone else and is ready to leave as soon as his date gets her food.  He can sometimes be distracted with toys but he usually is on his way out of his dinner chair seconds after he has pushed all his food on the floor signally he is done.  My date puts me to work by chopping up all his food and making sure he stays entertained.  As fast as I pull apart his food he has it all stuffed in his mouth.  We take a break to take a few drinks and remind him to chew chew chew and we start all over again.  Making sure he doesn't get a hold of the glasses on the table or daddy's knife.  And Rohan almost always has his sippy-cup tether so we can eliminate the headache of sippy-cups thrown on the floor game.  My ear always strains to stay in touch with the adult conversation at the other end of the table but by the time I strain to make adult conversation, my dinner date has started throwing food on the floor or is bending backwards in his chair. Adult conversation over. With each mealtime I try again and again to multitask and I realize I need to give up wanting it all and cherish my time with my dinner date.  My dinner date will one day be taking me out to dinner.