Nathan used to be a joy at a restaurant. As a little baby he would just gaze around at everyone and hang out. Even a month ago he would sit in his highchair and eat his stars and play with his rattle or his book "Pat the Bunny". We would feed him some bits from our plate and he would laugh and be soooo good. Everyone would remark on it. Now though, he's a complete bear. For example, today Jeff and I went to Faneuil Hall to pick up Jeff's debit card (he'd accidentally left it at the bar the night before when singing karaoke). We'd decided to make a day of it and we went to the Hard Rock Cafe because it was air conditioned for lunch. We'd made sure that Nathan had had lunch before we left (little bits of cheese, some fruit, and some chicken) and we brought a bottle and his stars with us to help keep him entertained. Well, Nathan was NOT having it. He squirmed and fussed. He threw himself backwards and let out screech after screech.
Suddenly Jeff and I were "THOSE PEOPLE". You know, the people in a restaurant with their holy terror children who were ruining the lunch experience of everyone around them. The people were you turn to your eating companion and make a snarky remark about how their child is a poster child for birth control. It was GREAT! Jeff and I took turns trying to entertain him while we waited for our lunch. Really we waited MAYBE 10-15 minutes, but it felt like an ETERNITY. We gave him a bottle. We gave him his stars. We attempted to read his book to him. We played with his rattle and butterfly toy. One by one everything was pushed away with a disgusted face by Nathan and thrown on the floor. When our food arrived we SHOVED the food in, barely tasting it as we continued to try and entertain Nathan. At one point I walked around the restaurant with Nathan and pointed out the different items in the gift shop. I made a special point of showing him the stuffed teddy bears and asked why he was being such a bear himself. His response of "Yeah" was not a satisfactory answer.
Basically what would have been a nice,leisurely, and fun lunch for Jeff and I was turned into a fast food experience as we crammed food into our mouths and walked around with Nathan in turns. No talking with each other. No laughing. It was all Nathan, all the time. So Nathan and restaurants lately are not good times. Three times now I've had to pick him up and either take him out of the restaurant all together due to some sort of tantrum, or we've eaten so fast that we barely tasted our food.
I really hope this is a phase because for now we will not be going back to any restaurants with Nathan anytime soon!
2 comments:
Wait a minute -- isn't the Hard Rock Cafe like, LOUD??! As in you have to scream to be heard by the person next to you? I went once, many years ago, and never went back again, solely for that reason (yes, I'm old). Maybe his little ear drums were hurting???
It's much quieter at lunchtime than it is at dinner. He just didn't want to sit in a chair...he wanted to crawl all around the Hard Rock and visit with people.
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