public displays of whining...

Yesterday was a long day of miscellaneous chores and errands (and Jamie's birthday, by the way). Obviously our little girl trekked along with us since leaving her in the car with the windows cracked would not have been appropriate. First we went to my work (SEI) for a tour of the child care center and for a flu shot (how's that for a birthday present?). Then off to Friendly's for lunch. After that, a trip to the mall for Jamie to get an eye exam and a new pair of glasses. I'd say we were out of the house from 9:30 to 4:30.

At work, she did relatively well at first. Then about an hour into our visit there, she began to get grumpy (not exactly what we hoped for while waiting in a room with my coworkers, awaiting the impending doom of this flu shot). Same situation at the eye doctor. Same thing the day before when I had lunch with a retired co-worker.

She's the kind of child where, if she gets tired, she refuses to stop looking around and fights sleep as much as possible. The result? We move from whimpering to whining to crying. This is accompanied by us walking around, bouncing her a bit, and sometimes doing a side to side little dance in front of everyone. And then suddenly.......silence..... Out of nowhere she'll just fall asleep.

My problem with all of this is not that I feel bad for her. I mean, I guess I feel bad that she's tired, but in my mind I think "well then give in and go to sleep silly girl". My issue is that I get this strange sense of embarrassment. I almost feel the need to go around to everyone and apologize for my child's blatant attempt at ruining their day. It's obvious that my daughter is being rude and disruptive. You want to finish your deliciously prepared fried meal at Friendlys in peace? Oh I think not.

I've been told, however, to chill out - it's ok. It doesn't really seem to bother anyone. People would get mad if we were at a movie or at a fancy restaurant, but we wouldn't go there unless we called one of our many eager babysitters. And I realized, for example, that when I'm grocery shopping at places like Walmart , there is sometimes a chorus of miserable little babies (and who can blame them...they're at Walmart for goodness sake). Is it possible that I'm embarrassed because I've been annoyed by crying babies in the past? Was I so cold-hearted that I thought the parents had pinched their child just to get him to cry in public?

Who knows. Now that I'm "mom", I guess I do need to relax, do what I can to calm my baby, possibly get up and walk around for a bit, and just remember that "it is what it is". As long as I'm showing effort and not just ignoring her, leaving her in her seat to scream while enjoying a low cost meal, it should be fine. Hey, I'm trying. Do you want to hold her and give it a shot??

And if you don't like it, then you can take your kickin' chicken buffalo strips in a to go box and enjoy it somewhere else, thank you very much.