At the Table

At our table we have lots of discussion and silly stories, and reporting of our day. Our table is a central place in our house. All of our meals and most of our snacks take place here but it is also used for homework, coloring, play-doh, and family games. Family dinner can be a circus but with a table full of strong personalities it is a unique and enjoyable experience. Each one of the girls has their own likes, dislikes and quirks.

Bridget is testing the waters of being a big girl by doing things like attempting to go down the steps upright and not holding a hand, but at the table sometimes she'd rather be the baby. I started watching little Ben last month and since then as I sit down to eat Bridget pushes her little fork to me. "Feed me" she says. Some days she is so hungry that she feeds herself but most nights she insists on "Mommy do it". For now I humor her, I don't think the little extra dependence will hurt. Plus I have a feeling she'll prefer to do it on her own soon. This evening for dinner she grabbed her fork and grinned "I eating, Papa." She has also learned the sign of the cross and enjoys participating in prayers. Her recent request is to sing "God, Our Father" which is one that came home from pre-school.

Megan loves meal time but I think mainly for the conversation. Megan is pretty easy most of the time and does eat the standards without much trouble. She prefers the starches especially if they have some kind of dairy: the more butter or cheese the better. She frequently sits in front of a plate of anything unfamiliar, chatting away instead of eating. She is motivated by dessert of any kind and that comes in handy.

Rachael is a great eater. Each dinner I give Rachael a large portion and she is usually the first kid done. Sometimes she asks for seconds. She loves meat and veggies, and will gladly eat the food that her sisters sit and stare at woefully. She has a sweet tooth as well. She had picked Fun Dip as her Valentine's this year. They are the packets of sugar that come with a candy stick to dip. She had a few extras and we found the remnants of them in her bed. She had eaten 4 of them under the cover of night. She had quite a look of remorse when she realized our disappointment. One meal Rachael doesn't like is breakfast, nothing appeals to her in the morning and it takes her a while to get a little something down. She doesn't complain about it so we cut her a lot of slack.

Emma is one of our quirkiest eaters. If the meal doesn't appeal to her she puts it in her cheek like a chipmunk and there it sits. There is a common refrain of "get the food out of your cheek" at our table. I think she has a really strong gag reflex and struggles to swallow any food that doesn't appeal to her. I have discovered that if I cut the food into really small pieces for her it goes down better. We get frustrated that at age 10 she is consistently the last at the table, avoiding eye contact with her plate. Emma has come a long way from the days of tears and stubbornness and now approaches dinner hopeful it will be something she likes. Emma is always a great conversationalist and story teller and helpful with meals.

It took a long time but now our meals are free from complaining and whining. Instead we hear about the girl's days, things they discovered in a Wii game, memories of past events, wishes for the future and lots of songs. Many meals we have to bring it back to eating, but truthfully I hope they feel they have a place to speak, listen and just be family. Getting a good meal is icing on the cake.