milk carton

Every morning we have breakfast as a family. Elijah, actually, eats first. It's easier that way :) Once he is done, Ryan and I sit down to a bowl of oatmeal with raisins and some milk. Since Elijah is usually very calm and rested in the morning, he quietly plays with whatever toy we give him until we are done and ready to start the day.

Not so during dinner. He is at the end of his day and the end of his rope. He demands attention. No toy satisfies him. Then one day we stumbled upon an ... empty Organic Valley milk carton. I guess it doesn't really matter that it was Organic Valley milk, but the milk is good, so why not mention the brand? Elijah usually wants to get a hold of whatever is on the table, and that time it was the milk carton. A milk carton is not a knife, not a fork, nor Daddy's tea, nor Mommy's Russian salami, so we didn't really mind him playing with it. And what a find it was! It's big enough to keep Elijah's attention, hard enough to grab to keep it challenging, and parts of it are easy to suck on. Best of all, he loves it! We've had a number of peaceful dinners since.