BBQ badness

Yesterday Australia went to the polls and failed to decide anything at all, and we went to an election BBQ and decided (again) that feeding Mae without a high chair is a bad idea.

It didn't begin well; Mae must have known in advance that we would all end the day whinging and on-edge, and started early. In fact, she burst into tears on arrival and didn't pull herself together for at least an hour as we tried to eliminate all possible causes (hungry? tried an avocado, not biting; teething? no new ones in evidence; separation anxiety? still crying when attached to me) until we were forced to start the possibilities again. Hungry? This time, she munched her way through a whole banana in about three mins flat, and finally stopped crying.

I wouldn't say she exactly calmed down though, because just as the BBQ was served, in stark contrast to everyone else in the party who was glued nervously to the TV biting their nails, the shouting started. I mean Mae's shouting, not the pollies, and I mean top of her lungs REALLY SHOUTING!!! not crying or at all upset, but loud enough to set everyone's increasingly frayed nerves even more on edge. We persevered, thinking food would cure all again, and loaded our plates with Mae-friendly deliciousness: roast zucchini, capsicum and spuds, herby lamb strips, saganaki (yes, saganaki), avocado salad. We took it in turns to proffer a tasty morsel, her sitting on the floor in her overalls.

She did accept our offerings and particularly enjoyed the roasted veg but we were forced to flank either side to catch the flying bits, as her vocalisations and flailing limbs become increasingly agitated. I had to grab the nearest newspaper (today's, unread, sorry Suze) and spread it beneath her as we failed to keep on top of the gesticulated veg.



After 15 minutes of this, the party was now silent - hard to know if in shock and awe at our baby in her shouty pants, or at the knife-edge quickly becoming apparent before us on the TV. But Chris and I were totally exhausted - time to let the good people focus and get Mae home, take off her shouty pants and get her into bed.

You'll be pleased to hear that she was much more settled this morning, more than you can say for the election!