Table Manners Optional

Breakfast time; a military operation of epic proportions.

My son's too young to understand that the time between sitting in his highchair and getting fed is directly proportional to the time it takes to prepare the cereal. My daughter is old enough to understand but too impatient to actually sit quietly. So he howls while she repeats the same request over and over in ever increasing decibels. As the volume increases so do my stress levels and I’ve only been out of bed for an hour.

Then, just as the whole scene is about to explode and I’m ready to join in the screaming, quiet descends but for the sound of toddler raspberry blowing. Suddenly the decision to have a relatively close age gap seems to justify itself as baby and toddler wavelengths coincide and my son giggles uncontrollably and looks at his big sister with awe. Emboldened by this display of appreciation, she continues blowing raspberries until he gets the hang of it and starts joining in. Thus, they keep themselves amused until breakfast is ready.

It’s still more ‘feeding time at the zoo’ than ‘tea at the Ritz’ but hey, the volume is such that I can actually hear Wogan on the radio and have a few sips of tea – bliss!