The best defense is a good offense.

Henry is an active baby. A very active baby. He has never been content to sit on laps quietly or relax in his stroller. If there is action to be had, he wants in. I think Julie's mom called him a little "busybody."

Last week we decided to go out to dinner for our anniversary. For some reason I listened to Adam and didn't get a high chair. Mistake #1. Henry woke up 5 minutes after we sat down and was pining to get out of the stroller. I took him out and held him in my lap, which was mistake #2. Try eating BBQ ribs with one hand. Not easy. Do this while keeping Henry away from the water glasses, silverware, 3 side dishes, beer bottle... Yes, I needed beer to get through this experience. Even though we made a 5:30pm reservation to accomodate Henry's bedtime within 15 minutes we were saying "Check please!"

After this debacle, I was very hesitant to go to any more restaurants until Henry is at least twenty. Just a few days later, one of the women in Henry's playgroup asked us to lunch with her and her 5 month old son. This baby is an angel. He rarely makes a peep, sleeps in his stroller, sits in laps without trying to wreck the joint and cries so little they have already weaned him from the pacifier. (We are NEVER getting rid if the paci unless I get a Valium prescription).

Anyway, I was very nervous. I thought out my gameplan before hand. I brought a huge bag of toys, some rice cereal for Henry to eat, his little bowl and spoon, a bib, his sippy cup, a bottle of water for him to drink, thirty pacifiers, extra outfits etc. As soon as we got to the restaurant I also asked for a highchair. I figured the novelty of it would be very distracting.

Well, surprise surprise, but guess who the angel was? Our little star Henry. The highchair's best feature was to keep him very, very far away from the table. Every time he looked like he was going to make a peep I shoveled more cereal into his mouth. I was having the best lunch ever! About 15 minutes into lunch the other baby started screaming and we had to cut lunch short. The poor mom was saying, "I don't know what is wrong, he is never like this!" I almost loaned her one of my little angel's pacifiers but I didn't want to bring him over to the dark side.