I owe an apology to... (long)
all the people at the DuPont Circle Le Pain Quotidien. I am really sorry that we probably ruined your dining experience :-(
OMG, I may never take Warner to a restaurant again. He is almost always very good in restaurants. I mean, I wouldn't test this at a place like Proof, but as far as kid-friendly restaurants go, he is usually quite good. Today we met DH for lunch and about halfway through the meal Warner became a screaming, crying, clingy, crazy toddler from hell. The only thing I can figure is that something he ate (cantaloupe and bread???) upset his tummy.
Toward the end of our now rushed lunch, I got up to go look in the bakery area at the front and see if I wanted anything for dessert. As I turn around to go back to our table, I hear screaming getting closer that sounds horribly familiar. Warner is wandering up the aisle screaming "mommy" and all the people in the restaurant are looking totally alarmed. I scooped him up and look back at my H like WTF, dude? and when I got to the table, I was like "Have you lost your mind?" and he replies "I could see him the whole time". Yeah, like that was the problem.
I was like "you think him walking around was the problem? you don't think that letting him walk through the restaurant screaming might make us total a-holes?!" (and DH is all, "oh, my bad.") Meanwhile, I am worried that Warner is getting sick or something because this behavior is really not normal. ugh.
needless to say, we got out of there fast.
now what we are home, I confirmed that he has no temperature. I asked him about 10 times if anything hurts and he said no. and now he's doing his usual nap protest (lying in bed talking and singing happily, but not napping).
Re: I owe an apology to... (long)
Ugh, so sorry.
We had a really rough family dinner last Friday night. The boys were all over the place. I am pretty sure the boys will prove to be extremely effective birth control for my cousin-in-law who was hosting the evening and was overhead saying, "this is not a good argument for children".
All of the "bad" behavior seems to be manifesting at the same time - hitting, biting, pushing, throwing food - we have it all in one form or another these days. Good times.
Ugh. Dining out for us is done with military precision. We walk in, order ASAP, one of us takes the kid out for a stroll. The other one signals frantically when the food actually arrives. Plop kid in front of food. Take one bite of food and ask for check. Pray for 10 minutes to eat uninterrupted. Remove child, sigh with relief.
Your DH totally fails on having your back. And FWIW LPQ is always mad crazy loud, so I don't know why anyone was giving you grief.
I'm so sorry. We've all been there. Last time we went out to dinner, DD went running through the restaurant after I took her to the bathroom yelling "Daddy, I went pee pee on the potty!" Dining with 2 year olds is just a completely different experience.
So essentially, you provided this service to some folks today:
YouTube
Instead of an apology, I think they might be thanking you.
LOL I find funny that the solution is OPK "Other People's Kids" and on BTOB OPK is ovulation predictor kit.
DS is usually pretty good in restaurants too, but he will randomly throw us for a loop. We haven't figured a cause yet - we thought the restaurant was too dark, or it the ceiling was too low, but all these things have occured at places where he's been fine to eat at before. No time of day (nap/tired) issues, so it just seems really random to us.
I like DCLow's version - we may start that just to pre-empt things!