Nobody wants to have THAT kid in the restaurant.

Have you ever sat down for a nice meal with your toddler at a restaurant and quickly realized that you would rather be literally anywhere else on the face of the earth than sitting at the same table with this crazy demon child?!

At our house, Niamh is just on the verge of turning two and she must be getting a head start on the "terrible two's." For some strange reason, she can be the sweetest little helper all day long and as soon as we go out in public (especially to a restaurant), she flips a switch and does the Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde thing. They must derive some great joy from embarrassing us in the most public of places.

Enter momma's big bag of restaurant tricks. I now carry a secret pouch in my diaper bag loaded with small toys and things to help keep Niamh happy (read: distracted) long enough to get in a quick dinner. Some of my favorite items are random things in the bins as soon as you walk into Target. Everything ranges from $1-$3 and features the stuff of magic to a toddler: crayons and mini coloring books, princess stickers, small containers of squishy stuff like play-doh, things that light up, etc. Another favorite are the Melissa & Doug Reusable Stickers Pads. I stick a scene in the diaper bag along with some of the stickers and, voila, we've bought ourselves a solid 15 minutes. Plus, they work like window clings and keep her occupied at home too!