2. I don’t think this is all that bad. It is a little bit more brief then all those baby’s first year fill in the blank books but the same concept. I got 2 of those books as gifts and have never filled them out. I opted instead to keep a very brief daily journal in a day planner. It worked out to about a paragraph a day. After the first year I just kept going and made if more into a whole family journal and less focused just on what my son was doing.

3. We have something very similar but less snooty sounding near us. I like the idea but we don’t go there often. I don’t think it’s meant to replace eating at home or homemade baby food but they do sell stuff to take home if you want. I think of it more as an extremely kid friendly place to eat out. It’s really nice to go out as a whole family to a place where I won’t get dirty looks because my toddler wants to run around and touch everything. It is also nice to see a place that doesn’t assume all kids love to eat only chicken fingers, burgers and mac n cheese like most kids menus have. The one near us focuses way more on toddlers. My one complaint is that they ignore the adults that come with the toddlers. Their meals are all toddler sized and are at best a light snack for an adult. What would be best in my mind is a place that manages to be really toddler friendly AND have food options the parents can enjoy.