Slimed

It has been one week today since we have been slimed. This is a very long story, but if you are curious, read on (but just be sure you have a bit of time)!

After our very fun day at the Fort Worth Zoo on St. Patrick's Day, we decided to take Will out for dinner at a family-friendly restaurant, Uncle Julio's (For those of you Austin-ites , think Chuy's or Matt's El Rancho). We invited some of our friends we hadn't seen in some time, and we were all ready for a fun evening. One of our friends, Kari, had called ahead to put our name on the list and they told us it would be a 25 minute wait. By the time we arrived with Will, it should have been only 15 more minutes. It was already 6:00, and I was a little nervous about waiting because Will usually eats around 5:45, but we were already there so we just decided to wait a little longer... I'm also trying to be a bit more laid back about Will and his schedule, so I thought, hey, this will be good practice for me! We were with Lauren and Zach, and 3 other couples - 2 of which also had children. Our entire party was 9 adults, plus Will, Hudson(2 1/2), and Gavin (5 months). Well, what started out as a 15 minute wait turned into chasing Will around for over an hour. Will had a fabulous time chasing Hudson around, but that involved Lauren and I chasing Will, which became a bit exhausting for us, as you can imagine! It was 7:15 by the time we sat down, which is usually when Will is in the bathtub. Perfect. I'm still trying to stay cool at this point though. We were thinking, well this is Mexican food, so it shouldn't take long once we sit down. I should have known better. It was St. Patrick's Day and Spring Break...hello!!! Oh, and did I mention that Will gagged on a tortilla in the bar area and threw up on me and himself (and maybe even the table next to us) while we were waiting? Again, thought about leaving at this point, but we had already waited for so long, and Zach and Lauren had ridden with us. I will say I had plenty of help from everyone, and especially Lauren and Zach so I was very grateful for that.

Are you still with me? Told you this was a long story. I just have to give some background information, so you can really put yourself at the restaurant with us and feel some of the tension that was already building. :)

Okay, so we finally sit down and were given several free appetizers because we had waited so long. Will has lately been a bit unpredictable about sitting in the high chair at restaurants, and I was holding my breath as I put him in. No problem! Will was really fascinated by Hudson and was watching his every move. This was also a huge help. After about 45 minutes, we finally get our main course. At this point, I've done possibly everything I can think of to keep my busy boy entertained. He and Hudson have shared toys, read books, colored, and even shared guacamole. Will loves older kids and really wanted to get Hudson's stamp of approval. Therefore, he decided he would start doing his really special shreaking/screaming he's been trying out on his cousins lately too. It's definitely loud and a bit annoying, but he is 19 months old, after all. It was intermittent and I tried to ignore it as much as I could. I also would encourage him to eat something else, take a drink, or play with a toy of course, trying to distract him from his own vocal chords. He was not throwing a fit or crying and was actually really happy. Emory (Hudson's mom), Lauren, and I had each commented separately on how well Will was doing, considering the circumstances. I also kept repeating a mantra in my head that another mom friend had recently told me about the loud yelling. She said, "Remember it's always louder to you than it is to everybody else!" Well, apparently on this particular evening, this was not the case. Out of nowhere, we hear a loud, shrill whistle (the fingers in the mouth kind). I first thought it was another child or maybe a birthday celebration. Wrong. It was a woman who was trying to get our attention. Everything started unraveling at this point... before I could process what was going on, Lauren was standing next to their table talking to her. I hear her saying, "Ma'am, my sister is doing everything she can to keep him entertained, he's not upset, he's 18 months old, etc... " I finally figure out that this woman is upset that Will is making so much noise. Again, let me remind you that this is a family friendly restaurant, with lots of loud tables throughout. She continues, "It's my birthday and my boyfriend and I are trying to have a nice dinner, blah, blah, blah." Lauren says to her, "Ma'am he's a toddler and we can't make him stop, he's just having a good time." To which she yells, "Well, then TAKE HIM OUTSIDE!" At some point, our friend Josh (Hudson's dad) stands up and yells back, reminding her this is a family friendly restaurant and she's basically crazy (I can't remember what was being said at this point because I was fighting back tears). I should also mention that Josh is 6 foot 7 inches so I was pretty glad he was on our side. After this, the manager came out and triedto talk to her. She tells him she wanted us to know what the loud noises felt like (and I guess to give Will a taste of his own medicine - mature, right?)! Because the manager couldn't really talk to her, he asked them to leave and they did, but not before she yelled at us, very sarcastically, "HAVE A NICE DINNER!" As they left, there was definitely some applause from our table and others around us. I don't know if I have ever been so infuriated in all of my life. Lauren was equally upset and later recaps her behavior as something that might resemble the tasmanian devil. :) I was just grateful that people were standing up for us, especially because Jim wasn't there.

Well, that's pretty much the whole story, although I could probably give even more details. Oh, and one more thing... Will bit me when we were leaving the restaurant. This time though, it wasn't a playful bite - he actually left a mark and bruise. I felt even more upset at this point, but now realize he had probably internalized all of that yucky energy and needed to get it out somehow. I'm just glad it was me and not Hudson or someone else!

So that's the story of us getting "slimed" by this crazy woman. A friend helped me with this analogy, and I really liked it. Can't you just picture the green slime? I'm glad I can laugh about it now, because it was a pretty rough night for me, with tears and everything. Pretty upsetting that some crazy woman could get to me like that and make me feel like a bad mom. She must have been having a really bad day or maybe just went a little overboard with the margaritas. Who knows?!?! Anyway, thanks for reading my lengthy post (if you're still hanging in there). Blogging is really good therapy, you know?

Here is a picture of Hudson and Will, pre-drama! Notice their red cheeks - they wore each other out!