Three weeks of our toddler eating dinner with us instead of before us

We used to feed him at 7 and eat ourselves after he slept. On release weeks that meant I was eating at 10. Three weeks ago we moved everything to 7.45 and sit together. Same food for him with less salt and chilli, in his own plate. What changed: He eats more when he sees us eating the same thing. The floor is much worse. On late release days my partner does it with him and I join for whatever is left. We talk to each other less at dinner and more to him, which I didn't expect to mind and do, a little. Not a fix for everything, but I eat before 9 now ❤