Baby In A Bar

I spent my morning in a most unexpected place - a pub. Why they chose a pub as the site for free TB tests for school volunteers, I don't really know, but the coffee was hot and good and I'm not complaining (too much.)

Given that I still have one child not in school and no nanny like most of the rest of the moms seem to have, I just packed that big baby into the bar with me. Where am I supposed to put him while I fill out paperwork? On the dirty floor, of course! I'd sit him down at my feet with my entire purse in front of him to choose his toy from (something he would normally go crazy for) but he had no interest in that women's accesory today. He had bigger aspirations - the bar.

I'd just get my papers back in my lap and start writing again, when he'd be off, sprint-crawling, trying to get behind the bar before I could catch him again. I finally sat my chair right down in the way of that path, so he decided under the table full of papers and files and directed by bossy nurses would be a fun place to explore. "Excuse me, bossy boots, I need to get my baby out from under your table."

When that lost its charm for him, he decided to make friends. Every woman in there had her purse at her feet and Jack took that to mean they were set there for him. Plenty of unsuspecting women looked down to find a big, slobbery baby chewing on her expensive purse or digging around in it to find her cell phone and make an embarrassing phone call.

Any attempts at annoyance at this child though disappeared the moment they spoke to him and he looked up and showed them his toothy smile. Yes, those teeth were a hit! I must have had a dozen comments on how cute his teeth are! At least we have moved on from "Wow, he sure has big cheeks!"

Now this process of getting one tiny shot took longer than you can imagine and we ended up spending over an hour at the bar, waiting for my turn. Where were all the other babies and young kids? Like I said, I think a lot of these moms either work outside the home or can just afford it for their own sanity and have nannies who help out so they left the little ones with them. While Jack was definitely a nuisance, he was still a hit with all the moms and even charmed the owner of the bar. Once, he pulled himself up to a standing position, using a woman's legs to help and ended up standing with his head under her skirt! "Excuse me, let me get my baby out from under your skirt."

What an interesting way to spend a morning. I hope this isn't the beginning of a love of bars for him.

Not Off To A Very Good Start

My boys have yet to learn how to play with girls.  Now I realize you don't really have to "learn" to play with girls any more than you need to with other boys, but since we have no "girls" in our family (I don't count, apparently), my boys need some extra encouragement to even realize girls their age exist!  I don't know if it is normal for this age boy to stick to his own kind and if girls do it as well.  I really have nothing to compare it to since I only have boys of a certain age, but they really seem completely ignorant of the fairer sex.  For example, they play a lot of father/son games.  All their dinosaurs, cars, dragons, etc all get divided into two categories: "dads" and "sons."  I hear them playing their imaginitive games in their room, calling "Hey, son!" and "Yeah, dad?"  Never is there a mom or a sister or a neighbor girl or even a serving wench!  Like I said, their world is suspiciously lacking in that area.

It doesn't help that their last couple "run-ins" with girls have not been entirely pleasant.  Twice now in the last week, we have come across "Bossy boots" at the park.  Two different girls on two different days at two different parks have taken it upon themselves to monitor my boys' behavior.  They have followed us around, pointing out all the dangerous activities they are involved in, telling them the "rules of the park according to her," and even trying to physically stop them from playing in certain ways.  Both times, this girl bit off a bit more than she could chew with team Mitchell and Ben, but it has stuck with them enough that they came up with the name "bossy boots" for girls and I can't help but think this hasn't helped their avoidance of girls in general.  

I have tried to explain to them that not all girls are like this - bossy, that is, but they don't believe me.  When I reminded them that I am a girl and asked if they thought I was bossy too, Ben said, "Mom, you are not a girl, you are a mom, and you are bossy!"  One look at my face, and he changed his statement a bit: "Well, you are the boss, but not always bossy.  Is that the same thing?"  

Oh boys, I guess we can be a bit bossy.  Get used to it, but don't take too much of it!  Maybe we are off to a good start after all...