18 mo and TS

[Beehn]

Looking for some suggestions to keep a 18 mo. old busy at sit down meals. DD is 12 mo. now so I'm asking for local resturants as well as at WDW. Older DD will sit and color, play I-spy, I even found a mini Mickey Puzzle at the dollar store that I thought would work....but what about the younger DD? She does OK at meals...but we are attempting CG this year so I want a full bag of tricks!

 

[mom2aredhead]

My #1 suggestion is the table toppers disposable placemats. They have adhesive strips to stick to the table, so baby has a clean place for snacks. They're usually brightly colored and have fun characters on them too.

Make sure you have cheerios, or another finger food to snack on if its not meal time. My son loved animals even then, so we'd always have a few toy cows with us wherever we went so they could parade along the table. I also never went anywhere without a book or 2.

Aside from that, I'd say novelty is the key. If its something they've never seen before, it'll likely keep them occupied longer...the dollar store is great for cheap stuff like that - just watch for previously recalled items or anything teeny-tiny if your little one puts things in her mouth.

 

[laughinplace199]

We just got back from WDW and our youngest DS is 18 months. Surprisingly, he liked trying to color when we went out to eat. He doesn't like to color at home, but he enjoyed it at WDW. Maybe it's because he wanted to do what his older siblings were doing.

In addition to coloring, I had a few small quiet toys and a container of Cheerios in my bag. That's all we really needed. He did get a little restless toward the end of one meal, so DH took him for a little walk. Other than that, he did fine. We ate at Boma, Brown Derby, Jiko, Spoodles, the Plaza, Kona, Tusker House, & Crystal Palace with no problems.

One word of caution if you're doing character meals, don't let the characters get too close until you can see how your baby will react. DS was terrified of the characters . He loved them from a distance, but freaked out if they got too close. He had no issues with characters on our last trip when he was 9 mos old, but he definitely had issues with them this time!

Have fun!