I was supposed to go brunch with some ladies, but one of the girls was intending to paint her apartment. We rescheduled for supper instead. Then another offer for brunch came up. Dexter and I were free so off to the New York Bagel it was.
It's a small-ish place and they don't take reservations so I went fully prepared for a bit of a wait. What I wasn't prepared for was how I was treated like a leper upon arrival. Knowing it was likely going to be busy, I poked my head in the door to see what the crowd situation was like near the door. I politely said, "Hey guys! Just seeing where there might be some room, I've got a baby out here." Man, you should have seen the look this one guy gave me. It was undeniably "WTF, I have to eat at the same restaurant as that person and her kid?" Jeez.
Dexter and I had taken the bus. I mean, I could have just shoved the door open without checking first and forced my stroller into the little vestibule but I figured I'd do some recon like any sensible person. Anyway, there was plenty of room. I folded up the base of Dexter's bugaboo and left it outside. Detached the top and took Dexter in and put him on the bench that nobody was sitting on. Stuck his diaper bag under bench. Also sat on bench myself... waiting was all good! That angry dude needed to chill out. Dexter didn't cry or break anything. He even fell asleep for a nap without a fight. Rad.
When he woke up he obviously had to see what was going on.
Oh yeah, and let's not forget Marilyn and her Brompton! What a fine foldy bike.
And afterwards we walked over to the Ice of Whyte festival. Dexter liked all the ice statues!
There were all sorts of sculptures, but I thought this ice bridge was awesome.
An afternoon with baby and a Brompton. Yes, please.
7 comments:
Marylin's Brompton is sooo pretty!
Cool blog, though you may want to tell marilyn she needs to extend the h'bars and saddle BEFORE swicelling the front wheel around:
http://www.brompton.co.uk/page.asp?p=3072
cheers!
Hello Miss Sarah,
I just read your last entry about feeling out of sorts. My daughters are 14 and 17. When they were Dexter's age, I felt just like you do now. There is nothing really wrong with you; you are just worn down.
Hopefully when your parents get back and you have your night to socialize with your friends you will get back on track. I started going to a Jazzercise class twice a week, and that's what pulled me out of the malaise when my kids were small. It was more for the socializing and friendship than for the exercise. You will pull out of this!
Also, and this sounds very wrong, but i much prefer teens to babies. I found the baby stage to be very stressful, no matter how well behaved the baby. Babies just can't communicate well enough, and I was always second guessing myself. It gets much, much easier as the kids get older.
Finally, keep taking that baby everywhere. If someone doesn't like a baby in a restaurant, they can stay home. We always took our kids pretty much everywhere, and they were always well behaved in restaurants, etc. We used to have older people come up to our table and compliment us on how well our children behaved, and they learned from an early age how to behave in public and be patient eating out. Now they are very adventurous eaters, and best of all love to cook.
You have a wonderful blog.
Lynne from Annapolis, MD, USA
Miss Sarah,
One more thing. I also used cloth diapers, and other than another mom with 4 kids, I didn't know anyone else who did that.
It's ok to be a hippy! Now that my kids are teenagers, they think it is cool and green that I used cloth diapers on them. Who cares what other people think. I also didn't think cloth diapers were a big deal. I never understood why other people didn't use them if only from the $$$ standpoint.
Lynne from MD
I feel famous! I agree, an afternoon with a baby and a Brompton is just right.
Thanks for the compliment Sable...you'll have to give her a test ride sometime. m
I read your previous post and did not comment, but would like to say now I am glad you are choosing to look on the bright side. I'm the (cycling) mother of two kids under 5. All my family and all my husband's family are in another country, and almost none of our friends have kids. So since my first child was born we have had the kids with us all the time without a break except when we are at work and they are in childcare. We do occasional swapsies with neighbouring parents to go out in the evening but we don't have the money to spend on movies, music, eating out any more since we had the kids, so going out isn't really an option. When I read that you were feeling low and you had lost your parents' support for a few weeks, I thought: No wonder you are feeling low. Thanks to your family's support you have been able to lead something of your pre-parenting life. When that ability is removed, then life is very different indeed. I don't intend this to be a judgement because it is entirely circumstantial. I'm just thinking that you are a very lucky mum to have been buffered from the endless maternal grind for so long since your darling baby was born. Let's hope your parents return refreshed and ready for a sleepover!
So many Anonymous commenters! Thanks for writing, feels great to have a partner in crime:)
Beck - Thanks too for writing! Yeah, it's a whole combination of things. I had Dexter exclusively for the first 3.5 months, but it was also summertime so going out and enjoying good weather and being with friends during the day time was a regular thing. Now that we're all quarantined for winter and it's dark all the time... it's just a different story.
But I do love taking Dexter everywhere! I think he learns a lot from being out and about.
And yes, I am totally lucky to have so much help. But, for the record, I made sure that this help was guaranteed before I even decided to start trying to have a baby. I was only going to have a baby this young if I had the grandparents on board! All part of my grand plan:)
And my parents came home just in time! I had the flu from Sunday until today. Egads.
Post a Comment