"Leila" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> You may know that I'm the mother of two large small boys, 6 1/2 and
> almost 5; they are high-spirited, hilarious, sloppy, and not good at
> fine motor tasks. Meals at my house are therefore messy and chaotic. We
> eat in the kitchen, which is small and cluttered. The kids are always
> rambunctious at suppertime and I get frazzled. They behave reasonably
> well at table in restaurants and grandparents' homes, however, so they
> aren't completely savage. But the younger one has been refusing to come
> to the table (???) and was beginning to test me in other ways at supper
> time. What a hassle.
>
> Today the 6 y.o. and I were at Ikea, where he was enchanted by a model
> dining room; he sat down at a place setting, discussed the
> arrangements, spent ten minutes organizing and rearranging the plates,
> chargers, candles etc. He's neurologically atypical and can be quirky
> about things - he likes lining items up in rows. He just loved that
> table setting, was delighted by the whole room. A light bulb went off
> in my head. why not put out placemats and set the table decently at
> home?
>
> For dinner tonight I asked the two boys if they wanted to eat in the
> dining room: YES! Want to help set the table? YES!!!! Oh boy. They got
> to choose placemats and plate color, and the four year old found napkin
> rings and insisted we use them (he'd never seen them used in this
> house, don't know where he got the idea). THey brought serving dishes
> in, and carefully laid a slice of cuke and tomato on mom and dad's
> plates - saving some for us, you know, as they polished off the rest of
> 'em themselves. They were models of civilized behavior. Furthermore -
> who would have thought that the 4 y.o., who is obsessed with guns,
> police, wearing construction worker costumes, nose picking and fart
> jokes, would turn into such a table-service diva? He pulled out five
> tea candles - one for each of us and one for the center. He directed
> the placement of napkin rings. He unfolded the napkin and placed it
> carefully on his lap. ???
>
> Somehow these children have gotten a taste for civilized dining. God
> knows they haven't seen much of it in our house lately, but they eat
> with grandma once a week, and she sets a nice table (but mostly in her
> tiny kitchen, not all this folderol of candles and such).
>
> I have resolved to eat dinner in the dining room every night. It causes
> such good behavior (and we like looking out the window at the sunset
> reflected on our roses)
>
> Furthermore, the civilized atmosphere makes the food taste better. Ob
> Food: Tonight was pot roast in the pressure cooker, a simple recipe
> with red wine, diced tomatoes, onion and garlic. I should have put in
> celery and carrot but I just forgot...ANyway, you can bet that the
> father of the household was happy to come home to well-behaved
> children, a lovely dining room (most of the kid clutter had been swept
> elsewhere) and a nice pot roast (and me, smiling serenely in the
> candlelight). Here's to the finer domestic niceties.
>
> Leila

Ikea gets everyone excited; even more than Martha Stewart.
And you are very finely tuned in with your boys -- what a nice posting.
Thank you.
Dee Dee