time warp entry: while we were at the beach…

Sep 21

Posted by: Rachel in: blog, caleb isaiah, family, just another day in paradise, memories, parenting, ramblings

…Brought to you by blogging on a word document and posting this when I get home. Not ideal, but oh well…

We went to Pizza Hut last night for dinner. When we sat down, a child on the other side of the restaurant started SCREAMING. His mother was trying to ‘comfort’ him instead of dragging his ass out of there. Now I’ll admit, I am somewhat partial to attachment parenting. We coslept instead of letting Caleb scream it out (although he puked when left screaming, so to me it wasn’t worth it). As a general rule, I don’t leave him screaming or upset about something unless it is just silly, like Potato Head’s ass hatch falling off. You laugh. I know you know exactly what I’m talking about. Come of Playskool, no kid is going to store all those little pieces up tater’s butt, so the falling off ass hatch just makes most 18+ month olds mad. But silly or not, if we are in public, I’m not going to allow him to ruin others’ experience. If he’s screaming like this little boy was, I would have rushed out the door to deal with it outside. This kid was dragging his mom around the restaurant screeching, hitting, kicking etc. Everyone was turned around staring at them and muttering under their breath. I heard one lady saying to her table that she would drag him out of there so fast. The waiter came over and rolled his eyes. There was a lady at the table behind us with her tween (oh yeah I’m hip) daughter, and what looked to be her daughter’s boyfriend. After the screaming child left, the mother commented on how well behaved Caleb was. “I mean it, he is really well behaved, especially for his age,” she said. Meanwhile he was using a straw as a hockey stick and knocking little balled up straw papers across the table. But you know what, he was playing quietly. He was staying seated for the most part, and keeping his voice down for the most part. Honestly, it made my day. Whether she knew it or not. It is nice to hear a complete stranger comment on how well behaved your child is, especially when he is two, because we all know two year olds can be challenging at times. It makes me feel like I must be doing something right.

I think we are heading to an aquarium tomorrow. Caleb keeps talking about dolphins, so I hope we’ll get to see one. I’m not sure they would have something that big, but we’ll see. Thankfully, the sun is just peaking through the clouds. Looks like it might just be a really pretty day.