Does anyone else find it hard to eat proper meals on a regular basis?  By “proper”, I mean a well balanced meal.  Before you ask, no, the leftovers your kids didn’t eat from their plates does not count!

We all know that there are plenty of interruptions when the family sits down to eat.  Someone may be missing a fork while someone else needs more water.  Perhaps someone is finished early and is hoping for their dessert.  Lately, the only time I can seem to eat without too much interruption is breakfast.  After that, I’m lucky if I get one “proper” meal before the day is out.  Oh I would absolutely LOVE to be able to eat on a more regular basis, however there is one main obstacle that I must face everyday – my Daughter.  Don’t let her beautiful face or adorable mannerisms fool you.  This child knows when I’m trying to eat and for some reason, it’s in her genetic code to prevent that from happening.

In the beginning, she tried to keep my attention with cute conversation which was filled with questions, songs and the like.  When she was small, I would do my best to go along with her but now that she is a bit older she knows that talking with a full mouth is not appropriate and the conversation is kept to a minimum.  I thought that my troubles were over but then she went all out and pulled her trump card – “Momma, I hafta go pee/poo weelly bad!!”.  Oh yeah, she went there.

She is still only two and while she is completely potty trained, she still needs help with wiping.  That means she needs someone to accompany her to the bathroom each time she goes.  My husband works away so he is not often around to assist with potty breaks.

I have tried to combat this latest tactic.  The most obvious solution was to make sure she went to the potty before we ate, but somehow…someway…she always manages to save something in her reserves for when I sit down to eat!  Once the kids have been completely taken care of, I will sit down to my meal.  Within minutes she will come over to me and urgently say she needs to go to the bathroom.  My mind is screaming ‘NO!!  No I just sat down!  I want to eat my food while it’s still sort of warm!  Just give me five more minutes!’.  However, I’ll smile sweetly and always answer “Of course I’ll take you to the potty my sunshine”.

I know that this won’t last forever.  One day she will be able to properly handle herself in the bathroom all on her own.  Until that time comes, I think I’ll just set up a dinner tray and chair in the bathroom.