Last night we went out to dinner at a nice restaurant with my very bestest friend in the world and her hubby. By we, I mean Wes, Aidan, and I. I thought we’d be ok bringing the munchkin, because he’s been the very model of perfect baby behavior in restuarants up until now. Quiet, patient, and calm.
I should have known it wasn’t going to last.
My first mistake was in making a reservation at a nicer restaurant. The kind of restaurant that’s kind of quiet, and has dim lighting and tiny tables. This is not the kind of restaurant that’s going to interest a six month old young man, and there wasn’t enough noise to mask his baby mutterings.
My second mistake was in not realizing that Aidan’s mutterings are loud at home and would be positively explosive in a quiet restaurant. He’s working on talking, and for Aidan talking means opening his mouth and saying “AHHH” as loud as he can for as long as he has breath. We have conversations like this at home, and it’s loud enough there. In a restaurant, though, it’s deafening.
The third mistake was not realizing that the timing just wasn’t going to work. He goes to bed at 7:30pm, our reservation was for 6pm…Yeah. He started getting fussy and tired right around when dinner was served, so we all ate very quickly and then Wes took Aidan outside while we waited for the check.
We definitely got some irritated looks from other diners, which I understand. I should have known better than to bring a baby to a nice restaurant. I didn’t glare back or get embarrassed though. I just took care of my baby and let the irritated diners take care of themselves.
My friend and her husband, to their credit, didn’t even bat their respective eyes. They assured us that our child is adorable (and loud) and we assured them that the next time we go out for dinner we’ll let Aidan hang out with his grandparents.
I guess we just chalk this one up to learning experiences. I am, after all, still considered a new mom and as such can not possibly be expected to know all things at all times. Besides, I really don’t think Aidan would be trying hard enough at all if he didn’t routinely change things up and keep me guessing.

It’s no secret that I love the movie Fight Club. In fact, if someone asked me to name the salient influences that have shaped the person I am today, Fight Club would be among the top three.
Aidan had his 6 month well baby check-up yesterday. He is so tall for his age! He’s 28 inches tall (90-95th percentile for his age) and 16 lbs 3.5 oz (30-40th percentile). In reality, however, he might weigh less because shortly after he was weighed (right before I had the diaper fastened) he peed all over the table and soaked everything within reach.
Today is, well, quite frankly today is a day I’ve been dreading for a while. It’s the one year anniversary of the day my Dad passed away, and I’ve been dreading it because it feels like it should be the end of my grieving period.
Still, as happy as I am to coexist peacefully with my memories once again, I’ve been dreading this day. While I know intellectually that I’m only one day farther away from the last time I saw him than I was yesterday, now that it’s officially been a year since the last time I saw him, that day feels a lot farther away. Does that make sense?