“Me eat, mama eat, dada eat and Nate eat … here!” Pointing to our dining room table, our toddler made his way over and let us all know that it was time to eat and of course, where exactly that was going to happen. Apparently, he has an understanding of the concept ‘Tutti a Tavola” at the ripe old age of two. Tutti a tavola is an Italian phrase that basically translates to “everyone at the table … to eat”. For as long as I can remember, eating at the table with family has been a part of my life, something I took for granted because it was so ingrained in our daily routines. Well, I’m happy to say that this has become a part of our growing family’s life too. Our toddler seems to light up whenever we are all together at the table.

We are a food family, mealtime is a huge part of our daily routine and our toddler has recently joined us at the ‘real table’ thanks to Hip Mommies ,  Ezpz and Kizingo . Hip Mommies, is a fabulous Canadian company that distributes useful, well made, safe products to Canadian families including; EzPz the makers of the all-in-one silicone placemat and plate and Kizingo the curved spoon.

The EZPZ Happy Mat has honestly changed our perspective on table time. With two little ones, a six-month-old and a two-year-old, our toddler had to give up his high chair when his younger brother started solids. We have a couple of strong self-feeders in our house; our toddler decided to start completely feeding himself by eight months and now our six-month-old (who just started eating solids a couple weeks ago, seems to be following in his footsteps). The mat is a placemat and bowl all in one and it suctions to the table, so the meal actually stays in one place, perfect for those messy and determined self-feeders. The mats are microwave and dishwasher safe, but we use them so often they get washed by hand twice a day and then we throw them in the dishwasher after dinnertime.

The EZPZ Mini Mat is great for our six-month-old! It fits perfectly onto his high chair tray and the small sections give us the option to put different foods in front of him to try as he’s slowly introduced to new foods. The great part is, once he’s ready to ditch his highchair tray he can move a little closer and join us all at the table with his mini mat too! In addition to all of this, the mini mat is perfect for travel! It comes with a reusable travel pouch to bring it along with you wherever you go. This is fabulous for restaurants or if we are eating at nonna or grandma’s house.

Kizingo’s curved spoon is actually amazing! It’s curved shape fits perfectly into our toddler and little one’s hands and it suits their needs so well. Learning how to self-feed is difficult, but it can also be a lot of fun! Both Ezpz and Kizingo honour that element of discovery, play and exploration that are so important at these ages.

I have to admit that transitioning our toddler to the table kind of terrified us. Could he actually sit and not be strapped in? Was he going to spill everything all over the place and grab our food? Well, some of those things did happen and he does try to get up before the meal is done, but to be perfectly honest he actually rose to the occasion and has become so excited to be a part of the ‘real table’ that the transition is happening rather smoothly. Toddlers at the table and little ones feeding themselves all at once … it’s been a busy couple of weeks over here!

GIVEAWAY!

I’m so excited that Hip Mommies is taking part in this fabulous Spring Small Shop Giveaway (giving away a $50 shop credit!). Be sure to enter soon as the giveaway closes on Monday March 27!

Head on over to Instagram to enter!

*Disclosure: Companies featured often sponsor my posts. If I love the company I am more than happy to share them with you!