I love the LO to the moon. But I have to admit, it gets pretty challenging to entertain her when in a restaurant. She's strapped in high chair unable to move as she pleases... of course she'll be antsy and make every available effort to squirm out of those straps. I'm amazed at how flexible she can be! The average time for a meal is about 1-1.5 hours so we need to be pretty creative in keeping the LO occupied. I refuse to give her my iphone to entertain her. That being said, I've adapted a few tried and tested tricks to keep her busy.
I give her a spoon. She loves playing with it. It occupies her as she turns it and puts it in her mouth. I think she likes how it feels inside her mouth, curved and cold. It serves its purpose until she gets amused with throwing it on the floor. The spoon is not everyone's cup of tea because of the fact it's pointed. I first gave the LO a spoon back when she was 6-7 months and she hasn't poked her eye ever but I am on the lookout like a hawk with every turn she makes with that spoon.
Another thing I give her is a napkin. The LO likes to wipe the table with a napkin. Though on occasion, it will still find its way in her mouth. Every time she finishes eating, I get a piece of napkin and wipe her tray with it. One day, she found a paper towel on the TV stand and she started wiping the table. Amazing how she picked up that one! This keeps her pretty amused for a while.
I give her things inside my bag --- tissue paper packet, make-up bag, earphones disc, brochure. Since my things are not something she always play with, she takes her time to look at it, touch it and put it in her mouth. There is a kind of novelty with these things and she could spend 30 minutes with them as I switch them. What you give is pretty much your discretion, you know what is safe and is not safe. Make sure anything you give won't fit in tissue tube as a rule of thumb.
My last go to are her toys. I keep at least 2-3 in her diaper bag. I always bring the ones that she gravitates towards to like a rattle that she've had since a baby, sophie the giraffe or a wooden spoon. I normally reserve these for last because I know it wouldn't occupy her long enough. When you present anything new to a baby, it heightens their awareness and curiosity especially when they are things that they don't normally play with so they take time to play with it with their eyes, hands and mouth. This is where the spoon, napkin and mommy's things come in.
These things works for us. I know for a fact that not everyone will think of common everyday things as "toys" to entertain their babies. In our case, we choose to give her the basics and have her work on skills she should be working on -- finger dexterity, pincer grasp, palmar grasp, sensory awareness and eye hand coordination rather than watching something on the iphone. For now, this works. I won't be a hyprocrite and say I will never use technology, but if I could prolong it, I will.
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