Monday, November 23, 2009

Everyone gets fed


We had dinner last night with lovely Laura and her new husband! last night.

We went to Dino in Cleveland Park. I've only been a couple times, but I love the place. The food is delicious and they have wine specials on Sundays and the owners are so pleasant and really interesting. And they like kids.

And if you are breastfeeding, I highly recommend the place. But I will get to that.

I'd forgotten to make a reservation, so we arrived a little early and asked if they had space for all and a baby. They juggled things around and gave us a table very quickly, even though they were busy.

While sitting down, we got dirty looks from the two women dining at the table next to us. Or rather, our boy did.

Which puts you on my bad list. Don't you stinkeye my baby!

I thought about assuring them that he's a good baby, but then thought, ah, fuck it. I also wanted to taste the one woman's Brussels sprouts, but decided to order my own. Yum.

(Note to Laura: just because you call them Brussies doesn't mean you are actually more familiar with them than I.)

So Big J needed to eat NOWNOWNOW almost as soon as we sat down, and I was wondering how the whipping out of the boob would go over. And then I noticed the large triptychs we had for menus.

Perfect!

So Nick held up the unfolded menu, J glommed on, and for a good chunk of time it just looked like I was seriously absorbed in deciding what I might want for dinner.

We passed him around as we were waiting for our meal, so everyone could get a sweet baby squeeze. He just watched and watched.

The previously pilly women next door were all charmed. Such a good baby!

Ha.

And then he got tired, and when this happens, Nick is just the best person to lull him to sleep. It's like reclining on a big pillowy mattress.

And by pillowy of course I mean big firm pecs of steel and abs of titanium but still very comfortable mattress.

So we put the napkin over his head to reduce the excitement of lights! and people! and wow! I just feel I ought to explain this, in case you are all, "Lis, a napkin clearly fell on his head and you are such bad parents you don't even notice." No. We are deliberate napkin-on-the-head kinds of parents.

And yes, we understand you can't substitute a plastic bag for a napkin.

So when you have a butt hand and a pat hand, you have no more hands with which to eat your lasagna.

Which is when your adoring wife steps in.

11 comments:

  1. It looks like a cloth napkin, rather than some cheap paper rag from a fast food restaurant. Clearly that makes you excellent parents, doesn't it? Heaven knows, we don't drag out the cloth napkins at our house for anything but a major holiday or celebration. Besides, how many babies get to go on actual date nights? Very cool!

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  2. Yes, very nice cloth napkins. As opposed to the paper towels we use at home when we run out of paper.

    I think we have cloth napkins in a box somewhere. We'll find them when we find Nick's sweaters and my tights, I suppose. Not that he wears my tights. Just, well, among the missing...

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  3. Nick is certainly a very Helpful Fellow. I mean, not only is he fully occupied with Soothing The Baby, he's practically dislocating his jaw so that it's easier for you to feed him!

    That is a truly adorable photo.

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  4. Just don't dangle him out of a window in Munich.

    People will talk.

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  5. :)

    love it

    and can i add that i am super impressed that you are blogging every day? SUPER impressed!

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  6. aww, these kinds of photos are my favorite! i wish we all had people documenting our lives in photos

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  7. There are so many things I love about this post!

    -"And by pilowy of course I mean big firm pecs of steel and abs of titanium but still very comfortable mattress." Nicely done.
    -Coral or whatever color that is - a great color on you.
    -J's outfit is adorable, the baby blue sweater and little pads on the elbows
    -Sounds like a fantastic evening :)

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  8. i loved carrying my boy around in a sling for the same stimulus blocking reasons. at least, i did love it till he decided to weigh a bajillion lbs.

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  9. I don't have a list of my favorite kid AND adult friendly restaurants, but if I did, Dino would certainly be on it. I am so happy that the three of you are finding some time to socialize and get out of the house. So many new parents seem to ignore that part of their lives.

    Oh, and how happy am I that I clicked that story about Lovely Laura and the Local 16 Code Red.

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  10. Dagny - I think it's more about the lasagna than assisting me. Wait, did I really say that?

    lacochran - Well, yah. I'll try to remember.

    mrsmac - It just makes me so happy. I'm glad I'm getting to do it regularly now.

    notsojenny - I love having the documentation. Love it.

    HKW - Thank you! And you know what, I ordered that top from Boden! I know you're a Boden fan, as you suggested I get boots from there ages ago. I just recently got 20% off plus free shipping and so I ordered a few things. As for J's outfit - handed down from my friend Wendy. We got lots of great stuff from her.

    elle dubya - I got a sling as a present and J never liked it. He protested violently every time. And now he's just too heavy.

    refugee - We didn't leave the house much for quite a while, but now we're getting back to normalish. It's great.

    And Laura and I used to get into the weirdest situations when we'd go out. I miss that.

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  11. I love it when the stinkeye turns to cooing. In yo face, unbelievers.

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