Houlihan’s definitely has one thing right and that is the complicated art of feeding toddlers. Ava’s order of “Mac & Cheese, please!” began with an appetizer of sliced carrots and dip. After the last orange stick had been triple dipped and licked clean, a large plate of cheesey noodles arrived with a side of strawberry applesauce. I’m not kidding, Houlihan’s has kids cuisine covered. Grandma Penny, Nate, and I have never enjoyed such a quiet dining experience. Uninterrupted adult conversation?? What ever should we talk about?
When the waitress came for Ava’s ice cream order, I told her that Ava would like swirl. I was quickly corrected. “No, I like banilla, please!”
Ava was soon savoring small spoonfuls of her largest ice cream portion to date. With a mouthful of sweetness, Ava shoveled up a heaping spoonful, looked across the booth, and asked, “Daddy, would you like some icecream?”
“Yes, I would.”
“Ask the lady and she will bring you some!” And the spoon went directly back into her mouth.
**postscript: After the continuous laughter subsided and then subsided again, Nate asked Ava if he could have some of her ice cream. “Yes, you can have some of my ice cream,” was her reply and she handed over her whole bowl of ice cream with a happy “thank you” and “your welcome.”
She is BEAUTIFUL and I want to have some Banilla ice cream with her!
Great story:) Yeah for Houlihan’s and yeah for Ava’s eventual sharing with Daddy. Kieran is very reluctant to share his food with his daddy as well. He usually answers, when asked, “Um, no.” (p.s. Rachel, can you tell me how you got the font at the bottom small? and also how you added a link within the text of your post about the photos I took of Ava? thanks!!)
The sweetest and most hilarious part is that she wasn’t “not sharing,” she was genuinely “sharing” great information. She thought the waitress was this magic genie who would bring anything she wished for and had to tell her daddy about it so he could reap the benefits as well.
(Jennifer–I’ll e-mail you the answers to the technical questions. It’s a cinch)
How nice of Ava to want to share that information of the Houlihan genie who brings ice cream! In honor of her, we took the kids to “our” Houlihan’s last night. I hadn’t ever thought of letting Kieran order by himself, as it seems Ava does, so he ordered last night, and later asked for, and got, some ice cream at the end of his meal, too. Thanks for the inspirations, Ava!
Rachel, thanks for the invite to the “Lost” Party. I would love to be there. I’ll have to live vicariously through Emily though. Keep up the good work in the blog. We really enjoy reading it.
Michael