Dining out...

...with Zoe is usually an adventure. Now that she's potty trained, if it's a new restaurant, she needs to see the bathroom 234203498 times, and otherwise, she's moving from seat to seat, plays with sugar packets, wants to say hi to EVERYone who walks by, but is generally good.

This is an improvement from when she was younger and wouldn't sit still...someone would be walking the restaurant with her the entire time.

Needless to say, we didn't go to restaurants often (still don't) and would often only go with other people. It just made life easier and would offer a distraction for Zoe (heck, us too!).

Anyway, today, we went to the 99 for lunch. We like it, and the kids' menu has a couple of things we KNOW Zoe will eat (always a plus when you have a kid who won't eat pizza or hot dogs regularly, doesn't like burgers, and tires of chicken and fries). Zoe ordered the macaroni and cheese, with applesauce, and munched on popcorn while she waited. When her meal came, she was patient while I stirred it around (checking to see if it was cool enough). Now, you must understand, Zoe is not a kid who will eat ANY mac and cheese. It must be that cheap Kraft mac and cheese--you know the kind made with powdered cheese product. Skinnier noodles, orange, the whole nine yards. And some restaurants have *that* for kids. But not the 99. I fully expected Zoe to turn her nose at it and ONLY eat the applesauce. Yes, I have a mac and cheese snob. She won't even eat MY homemade stuff!

Anyway, she chowed down on it like there was nothing left in the world to eat. When she said she was done and wanted that applesauce, I asked her if she had a few more bites left...without a bit of argument, she said yes, picked up her fork, and kept eating. Noah and I stopped our conversation and just stared at each other. She *never* does that without a fight. NEVER.

Oh, and she told us it was "the best macaroni and cheese EVER!".

And, on top of all that, she used a napkin appropriately, and independently, as her face would get messy with the cheese.

Woah...she's getting so big!