Party of Four

Tonight we went out to eat at Fiesta Azteca (Big surprise there, I know). I've blogged about this place before - it's very family friendly (read: LOUD) and we go so often that Jacob refers to it as "The Restaurant". When we first arrive, he cracks me up because he really studies the kiddie menu, carefully tracing the words with one finger and kind of mumbling to himself. We ask him what he wants to eat and he replies in a serious way "I want that please" and points to a picture of a sombrero. Next comes his favorite part of the Fiesta Azteca experience, a visit to the ladies room. He loves everything about it, bashing through the swinging saloon doors, dancing around to the blaring mariachi music and waving his hand to make the automatic paper towel dispenser go. Most of all Jacob loves nothing better than to take a big, long, relaxing potty break at The Restaurant. I asked rather hopefully, "So, just pee right?" But, such was not the case. Tonight he hunkered down in his favorite stall for almost 15 minutes, doing his business, swinging his feet, messing with the toilet paper, and singing sea chantey's, something about "Oh, Oh the Deep Blue Sea". I'm truthfully so deeply grateful that he's potty trained that I don't even mind.

Next comes the part I don't enjoy. The part that really makes me want to order an adult beverage. Namely that Jacob hardly eats anything. Finally we manage to get him to eat a few bites of rice, a cup of milk and a bite of quesadilla. I mean, clearly you can look at him and he's not thin or anything, he's perfectly fine and healthy in every way. I think it's just that I'm such a control freak and it bugs me. And then it bugs me that it bugs me if that makes any sense. And it's funny, because our weekly dinner out is almost always the same. We order the same thing (El Torito with beef for me, El Torito with Chicken and no beans for Will), go through the same routine with the bathroom and Jacob not eating and it's loud and we can't even really have a conversation but there's just something about it; we just enjoy being together at the end of the week. It's OURS, our family routine, and it's that our-ness of it more than anything else that I think keeps us going back week after week.