We had Hubby's parents here this weekend. The night they arrived, we all went out to a local pub for some dinner. Waiting for the kids' meals is always interesting. Can we keep them occupied? How many rounds of Eye Spy can we play? Did we remember the crayons? I told them a hundred times not to carve into the table. Did you want an appetizer first?
When we go to a restaurant, it feels appropriate to strategically place them around the table so they are properly boxed in somehow. A wall or window on one side, a parent on the other. I almost always sit on the outside. I don't think there will be any window seats for me until they are at least 10.
Because we had my In-Laws, that meant 4 adults to pigeon-hole them. Hubby and I both took the outsides. EvieG is great in a restaurant. She can amuse herself, read the menu, play quietly. Spark Plug has recently discovered a passion for colouring, so all in all she is fine too. But The Destroyer. She can only take it until her apple juice or chocolate milk is gone and then it is on to the next thing. She gets fidgety. She tries to climb under the table and come up for air on the other side. She makes friends with the neighbouring booth.
This time she found something else. She discovered the wrapped cutlery in the centre of the table. She reached over and was preoccupied with the fork and knife for a couple of minutes. She was also playing with the napkins. No big deal. Until she started trying to cut the kids' menu.
She was chewing. I couldn't see anything in her mouth and wasn't sure if she was grinding her teeth again. I opened her mouth and didn't see anything. She continued chewing. I opened it again and saw something white. Hubby asked me what it was. I told it it was probably just the napkin she had been playing with. I assumed it was a piece she has ripped off since she rips everything else in life and was playing with the fork and knife. I took out the tiny, wet piece and wiped it on my jeans. We carried on with our conversation.
Hubby noticed she was chewing something again! This time he removed it from her.
As The Destroyer was climbing from Hubby's lap to the floor and back up again, she had been munching on her own appetizer. She spotted the chewed gum stuck to the bottom of the table. It must have still smelled like strawberries or fruit blast because she had smoothly picked it off and was happily snacking on it.
What could we do? Remove it from her mouth and shrug. There was nothing we could say other than the fact that we weren't surprised and thank goodness we got her the H1N1 shot. We are sure she has the immune system of a superhuman given the amount of sand, dirt, and now crusty, chewed gum she has put in her mouth.
All's I'm sayin's all.
Labels: The Destroyer
