I have a feeling that people often think, that having a baby limits what you can do. I don’t like to look at it that way. The way I see it is that you can do whatever you did before, but your priorities might change a little, which means that you might choose to do less of somethings and more of something else.
Before JJ was born James and I used to go out for meals from time to time. When we were visiting in the Faroes, we always went to our favorite sushi restaurant Etika. When we were here in January we opted for a takeaway and enjoyed Etika at home, it was actually quite nice and we did not have to worry about what to feed James, as he had so recently started solids. This time we were really excited to take him with us. JJ likes to eat just about anything, so we were not concerned about that, we were more excited about how he was going to behave in a restaurant. We are happy to report that it was a really enjoyable experience!
JJ had roasted asparagus and lamb. Asparagus is probably one of his favorite things to eat and also so easy to feed himself. We had a couple of toys for him to play with, but it was a town map of Tórshavn (Capital of the Faroe Islands) which kept him most entertained.
When eating out with a baby I would always advice to be familiar with the menu before going to the restaurant and don’t be shy to ask to get a dish on the menu made more plain for your child. We brought JJ’s own sippy cup, which we always have in the changing bag as most restaurants don’t have sippy cups. Another advice I would give to parents who take their child to a restaurant, is to not be embarrassed or stressed if the child is a bit loud. Take JJ for example, he is 11 months old and loves to babble, he only has two volume levels: on and off. I love it when he communicates with us through his babbling and shusshing him is not something I would do. Let your child communicate, just like he sees everyone else at the restaurant do.
We are already looking forward to going back to Etika and other restaurants with JJ.
Iris Xx
Our Sleepy Smiles 