Sometimes the best theories evolve on sleepy Sunday mornings.

Jon and I were barely conscious yesterday morning after a bad night of sleep (Laurel’s two year molars are coming in); Jon suggested shaking up the mojo with an old college solution: the greasy breakfast.

We headed to the Arlington Diner and Restaurant; I assumed it would be packed (as it tends to be on weekends), but at 8am there were plenty of tables. The diner has booster seats, the waitresses were terrific with Laurel (and completely on task in keeping me caffeinated), and the food arrived about 5 minutes after we ordered it; literally just as I was asking Jon whether I should take Laurel for a walk around the restaurant so we didn’t burn our seated time waiting for food. Equally excellent was that Laurel loved the giant breakfast (enormous pancake covered with blueberry topping, toast, eggs), and the vinyl/plastic décor made blueberry-print cleanup a breeze. For the first time ever we left a restaurant with Laurel because we were ready to leave, not because we had to deal with an emergency of the diaper or disposition variety.

Anyhow, so the theory goes something like this. Going to a diner early on a Sunday morning with a child is: 1) the most satisfying dining out solution you will experience with a little one in tow; and 2) the grown up equivalent of Sunday brunch with your friends in college, the differences of course being the source of your fog and the company you’re keeping.

Arlington Diner & Restaurant, 134 Mass. Ave., Arlington, Tel: 781-646-9266