Slow Isaac dinners

Hillary ate slowly.

I did not.

This was a thing.

Many dates and outings, I'd be done long before Hillary. I would focus on going slowly. Making small mental games out of things. Ensure the utensils are put down after every bite. That kind of thing. I still always finished long before she did.

Mostly that was okay. Sometimes we wouldn't be on a date so much as just eating out because we were tired and didn't want to cook. In those cases, I recall more than a few times sitting there and wondering just how much longer we'd be there.

She chewed thoroughly.

Fast forward a few years. Isaac is about two years old. He also chews thoroughly.

We had resolved to have family dinners. Isaac tested that resolve during this time. We had many hour long meals. Some stretched upwards of an hour and a half. This wasn't due to him being distracted or chatting or doing other things. He'd just slowly truck away with very small bites.

It is possible that Hillary's paranoia about choking sank into his developing brain.

Hillary and I would chat and eventually run out of topics of the day to cover. We'd roll our eyes at each other. Hillary would do her cross eyed, exasperated and amused expression as Isaac would consider another bite, then happily shove it in.

Sometimes we'd do a very little bit of kitchen tidying while Isaac finished, but usually not. We were pretty stubborn folks and that would have been rude.

I know I said it more than a few times, but I'm also fairly certain she brought it up first as I probably didn't really consider it the same. It also wasn't a usual area of amusement, so it certainly wasn't something I would have broached without her bringing it up.

"I think I know how you feel waiting for me now."