How many times of sweeping up after dinner will it take before I buy a splat mat? I don’t know – I’ve lost count and I still don’t have a splat mat.

The reason why is because all of the ones I’ve seen are just too much for me – too ugly, too colorful, too mucha too mucha. That, and I figure you’d be sweeping up anyway, right?

Unfortunately my floors are not on board with my laissez faire attitude.

I found this very understated splat mat at Williams-Sonoma and think it might go great in our dining room. No cheeky kids design here, just some simple peas and carrots. Yes, it’s on the pricey side – but everything else I’ve found that is reasonable looks like crap to me!

We’re a peas kinda household. My girl likes her peas. It’s always a struggle to get her to try any other type of vegetable, though carrots, on occasion, pass muster. That’s why it was so shocking to see her gobble down squash the other night. I mean she gobbled it down like a hungry puppy.

Of course, there is a story behind it…we were out in the garden (thanks to the tireless efforts of our landlady’s green thumb) and lo and behold the squash/zucchini plant was blooming. Sophie and I very thoroughly inspected the ripe squash versus the still growing swash. Then, we carefully picked the one very large ripe squash and brought it upstairs.

For dinner I sautéed it with some butter and gave her a small taste, thinking for sure she’d reject it. Yes, I had peas ready to go but they were artfully hidden.

To my utter surprise, she ate and ate and ate the squash up. Along the way she kept saying, “picked it!” with such glee.

It got me to thinking about introducing new foods to toddlers. The San Francisco Chronicle just ran a story on this very topic and, while growing your own food is not an option for most people (myself included) they did have some choice advice.

First of all, stop offering junk food. If given the choice, children will opt for junk food. This, to me, is easier said than done.

Having kids participate in the preparing or choosing of the food they eat is also helpful. At the grocery, instead of rushing through as quickly as possible, try involving your kid in choosing just the right tomato. Talk the her about what a ripe tomato feels and looks like. That way, when you serve it, she’s (at least somewhat) invested in it already.

As for preparation, try having them stir or mix or some other non-lethal job in the kitchen. Even a 2 year old can use a big spoon to mix apples and oats for apple crisp. Yes, it’ll be messy. But yes, you can have them help with clean up, too!

Give them a job for dinner time. If your children are small, have them fold napkins or set the table (maybe no knives or glasses to start). If they are older, have them pour water for everyone or bring the dinner plates to the table.

Lastly, have them take 3 bites. If they still don’t like it in 3 bites, then don’t force it. This seems to work for my family. Hopefully it will help with yours.

photo credit gregor_y

Look at this inventive way to add some spice in to dinner time while your child STAYS SEATED. Imagine that. These cool placemats have pop up windows and stickers that can keep your little one entertained while you finish your meal, or even *gasp* have conversation! Thank you Hello Hanna.

Until now Sophie has eaten dinner at 5:30 or 6 and then we continued with our nightly routine before putting her to bed.  Now, it seems like she’s happier eating later and closer to her bed time.  We’re happier with this arrangement for her too as it allows her to sleep a little longer in the morning – even a few minutes can make a big difference!  Unfortunately, that puts our grown up dinner later and later – sometimes we’re not even done by 10pm and that is just way too late.  Again, it has to do with maximizing sleep time.

So, we’re in the process of deciding if Sophie joins us for nightly dinners or if we suck it up and eat late.  I’ve always known I’d have family dinners (I did as a child and even when times got really rough we ate together every night and it seemed to hel get us through).  But when to start?  This week we decided to give it a try.

In keeping with Maria Montessori’s adage: not words but virtues, we are attempting to teach table manners to our (almost) 2 year old by modeling the correct behavior.  Teaching through example. Now that we’ve pretty much mastered the “not throwing food on the floor,” it’s time to tackle nutrition, grace and courtesy, and manners.  Whew – that’s a mouthful.  Montessori and much to say about each of these topics and yet I only have the mental ability to begin with these as they relate to the nightly dinner.

Nutrition:  This is a life long lesson I realize, but giving a solid foundation is a parent’s responsibility in my opinion.  By showing Sophie that not only is she served a balanced meal (protein, veggie and starch) but also Mommy and Daddy eat that way every night, I hope to instill in her a “need” for good food.  We don’t praise her for eating what she’s served (well, we try not to) and we don’t offer her food as a reward or withhold it as a punishment.  This creates associations with food that lead to overindulging, stress eating and other bad habits.  If we have dessert, she gets dessert (smaller portion!).  In the interest of full disclose, our daughter will pick out most every veggie and put it aside unless it is a pea or a carrot.  Those she’ll eat.  But, hey, we’ve got to start somewhere.

Grace, courtesy and manners: Since putting a napkin in a 2 year old’s lap is not an option, we do more modeling of grace and courtesy at the dinner table, which fits in nicely with Montessori’s teaching that the sensitive period for grace,  courtesy and manners is 3-6 years old and before that modeling is key.  Still, we use napkins and put then in our laps.  We wait to eat until we are all seated and served, though we don’t say grace or a blessing.  When we have a conversation, we (try to) listen to each other before speaking.  (Note: my husband and I are both talkers, so this one takes practice!)  When it is clear that Sophie is finished, we ask her if she is all done – we’ve taught her the sign language for this, so she can communicate it easily when she feels like it.  This part, truth be told, is hard as she doesn’t always want to communicate clearly and prefers to wiggle and squiggle in her chair.  We try to reinforce the “all done” before we take her out.  “Excuse me”, “thank you”, and “please” will all have to wait until she can actually speak.  Feet and elbows are not allowed though chewing with her mouth open is (for now) as I’m usually thankful that she is actually eating.

Dinner time, as you may suspect, has become hectic.  It’s not the best situation as I prefer to have a nice relaxing dinner, but, for now it’ll do.  Plus, I like to feel like I am sowing the seeds of future mealtimes.