Zach-atouille

(Speaking of which, that's a film we missed. Perhaps a good candidate for rentals now that Zachary is present during family TV time? I'm still trying to figure out if/how to watch the "grown-up" Netflix we've got checked out.)

Today was another first, Zachary's first trip to a restaurant! To keep it simple (and hopefully successful), we aimed for casual dining at a place that's very easy to get in and out of (in case of crying, wardrobe malfunctions, etc.). As a bonus, it was about the closest equivalent to children's toys and visual entertainment that you can find in a restaurant -- our local kaiten sushi, where the plates move around on a little conveyor belt, and you just grab the ones you want. A quick and easy drive, a space that's generally fairly loud, and definitely quite amenable to quick escapes.

Our friends M and K (of Fish for Breakfast blogging fame) joined us on this adventure, after which we had some yummy cake they'd made and brought! After a false start where Zachary wasn't ready to get into his car seat quite yet (excellent capture of his initial reaction at left by K's expert lens), the second attempt was successful, and he dutifully sat with big wide eyes all through lunch, looking out through the windows of the restaurant at the world. No sleeping, just the 'quiet alert' Zachary who's very cute to watch. Lunch was yummy, and Meh finally got to have some of the tasty seafood she had missed out on during pregnancy. (Our original plan had been to have some brought in to the hospital - heh, that didn't quite happen.)

A quick story about the restaurant -- I was trying to figure out where exactly to put his car seat. On the floor didn't seem good, and the booths were perhaps not wide enough and a tad less stable than we'd prefer. We spotted child seats and grabbed one, but the car seat was too large for it. Suddenly, the hostess offered a complete paradigm shift by flipping the child seat upside down; the front and rear legs of the base were perfectly proportioned to fit a car seat into. Ingenious! (All experienced parents reading this blog are rolling their eyes at me right now.)

Tonight Zachary got to chat with both mima and papa (in Florida) and grandma (in Michigan) before they went to sleep, via instant messenger video conferencing. Ain't technology cool?