Sam and I LOVE getting a babysitter over the weekend! It’s our time to hang out and not have to worry about a toddler running away, eating food from off the ground, or screaming! The screaming is was does it in for us every. single. time.
But every time we get a babysitter and go out to dinner, we miss our little sidekick, Archibald. His name definitely suits him because he’s literally the King in the home. He controls what we watch, eat, and do 24/7! He has us tied around that cute little finger of his, and we love it!
Since we usually miss him when we go out, we decided for one date night to take King Archibald with us to one of our favorite joints in Utah County, SLABPizza. Â They really have the best pizza ever, and you literally get a slab (1/4 of a full pizza = 1 slab).
When we take Archie out with us, it’s definitely like playing a drill. Sam and I always have a certain position to take place. It’s definitely “Game Time” when we get Archie out of the car. Here’s how it went down (and usually goes down) when we take him with us:
Sam gets Archie out of the car, Archie wants to walk instead of being held (obviously.. he’s two!), we hold his hands and then he starts yelling out, “one.. two… THREEEE!” and if we have not thrown him up in the air by “THREEEE” it’s as if our house burnt down and we lost everything we own with the way that kid screams. So we get a few “one, two, threes” in before getting into the restaurant. This is when the “game time” face really kicks in though. We know Archie is either going to run to the back in the kitchen, or he’s going to find someone to talk to. Only, he doesn’t speak English… he speaks “Archie Language” which we are now thinking is really going to be it’s own language here soon!
Archie starts talking to the guy taking our order, which really gets confusing because the guys is trying to understand him, but has a confused face wondering what language he’s speaking. A lot of people think that Archie is three or four because he’s HUGE. So when he speaks in this little language, they definitely get confused.
Between ordering and paying, Archie usually finds his way over to the Coca-Cola machine and starts whining because he wants a Coke – and the kid doesn’t share! We get his Coke, extra utensils because we know half of them will be on the floor by the end of the meal, and then we find a seat.
You know how kids are, their tolerance for sitting in one place last for maybe a good 5 minutes. So Sam and I have to be quick with how we are going to entertain Archie. We give him utensils, sticker books, point to different letters and colors to him. ANYTHING to keep him in his seat. Then he’ll usually start screaming because he wants out and someone will look at us laugh and say something like , “Good luck” or, “We know how you feel”. But then we feel bad because our child is screaming.
*FOOD COMES FINALLY!*
We give Archie his food, and he either will start devouring the food, or not want anything to do with it. At Slab we lucked out because he was loving the Cheese Bread we got him (THANK GOODNESS!).
We usually eat FAST when we take Archie with us because we know he’ll be over it quick. Then the game plan starts before we get out. Sam or I will say something like, “Okay, you go throw away the trash and I’ll get Archie out of the seat.” Then it’s book it to the car time before he sees something he wants to play with or before he runs away.
It’s definitely not very enjoyable to eat when you have a toddler with you, but you just do what you can during the meal. We love taking Archie with us though so we can experience life with him in different surroundings, and so HE can experience new things. Parenthood is a full time job, and has to be a selfless job in order to be successful. This obviously doesn’t mean you have to take your two-year old out to dinner, but giving them opportunity to grow and learn on their own will do them good! We definitely stress out every time we take Archie out with us, but its totally worth it and makes wonderful memories to last forever.
xoxo
Jess Pugmire 