Family Circus

So we decided to take the kids and go out to dinner today. This is a crap shoot. With two kids under two, you never know what will happen. But we were up for the challenge.

I watched as a mom and dad with two sons under three came into the restaurant. They were doomed from the start. Mom couldn't get one of the flailing boys into his high chair. They ordered juice, but by the time it got there I watched Dad tell the waitress that they had to leave. Mom already stormed through the place with the screaming kid on her hip and was a distant memory. That dinner was over before it began.

In the booth behind us that I was facing, I watched another family of four try to eat. A boy, about two, stood the whole time and raced his toy car up and down the seat, hitting the strangers head who sat behind him every few minutes. Mom and Dad ate in silence, hurriedly shoveling food into their mouths. You could tell that they knew they were dealing with a ticking time bomb and had to finish dinner before it went off.

Across the way, there was another family. This time it was two obviously new parents with maybe a 10 month old daughter. I saw the fear in their eyes that I distinctly remember having the first few times we took Sophie to a public place. What if she melts down? What then? The parents were desperate to entertain her, so they gave her the plastic bag that once held her Teddy Grams to play with. Hey, I'm not judging- she was supervised and being quiet. Whatever it takes. The baby quickly showed them when she clumsily knocked her juice cup onto the floor, splashing a waitress passing by. "Eat Faster!," the parents eyes read.

But John had the best seat in the house. The people in the booth behind us that he was facing win the award. A boy, about seven, and his parents came in. Once settled in the boy informed them that he didn't like his shirt. So, mom told him to take it off. He did. He walked, bare from the waist up to the bathroom, and no one skipped a beat. What ever happened to "No shirt, No shoes, No service?" He did put on a hoodie eventually, but not the way you would think. He had his arms in it, but that was it. The rest wrapped around his back like a shawl. The parents carried on like he wasn't even there, eating and talking more relaxed than anyone else around us.

Upon our arrival to Kosta's I could tell that Sophie was going to be a little testy. She woke up early from her nap and she is definitely the type who needs her sleep. And, it always seems that it is time for little John to have a bottle when we are about to eat. What were we thinking? I got Johns bottle ready and started to feed him while he was still in his carrier. Meanwhile, John distracted Sophie with some coloring as we waited for our food. When it arrived I found myself giving John his bottle with one hand, eating my souvlaki with the other, and still trying to help coax Sophie into eating her dinner.

We had it easy.