An Egg Hunt & The Importance of Family Dinners

I wasn’t sure if Bug-a-Boo was old enough for an Easter Egg hunt, but hubby thought he was, so we decided to try a simple one. We filled plastic eggs with Cheerios, Kix, Goldfish crackers, pieces of banana, apple, and orange, and fruit snacks, then set them in obvious places around the living room, dining room, and kitchen before Bug-a-Boo was awake. When he got up, we gave him his basket, then showed him one egg and how it opened. He had so much fun running from egg to egg, giggling, and eating the contents. He had his whole breakfast this way! After breakfast, we headed to church for worship. After worship and lunch back home, Bug-a-Boo settled in for his nap, and we re-filled and re-hid his eggs for dinner. He fell asleep late and woke up late, so by the time he was awake, hubby and I had already eaten. We figured this was okay since he would have his dinner in the eggs. I even tried filling eggs with veggies thinking this would help them go down. FYI- it didn’t. He opened the egg, dumped the veggies, then headed for the next one. Close to his bedtime, I had just finished loading the dishwasher and was downstairs starting a load of laundry when hubby called down to me, “Did you just set the table with red plates?” “No,” I called back, “but I loaded a bunch of red plates in the dishwasher which is on Bug-a-Boo’s level.” Apparently he had missed eating dinner as a family and had gotten the (dirty) plates out of the dishwasher and set exactly three at the table. He didn’t put out any cups or silverware, but had set the plates centered enough in front of each of three chairs that hubby thought I had done it! (I am pretty sure he didn’t realize that the plates were dirty when he thought I had done so, at least I hope so!) I came up to see, and we asked Bug-a-Boo if he had set the table. I don’t remember his exact response, but I think he started clapping. I guess he just really missed the family dinner and had decided to do what he could to make it happen! Needless to say, hubby and I set aside what we were doing and gathered around the table for a (small since it was our second) family dinner. I have read so many places about the importance of sitting down to dinner as a family, but had no idea it meant so much to my 20 month old!