Everybody's a Critic

As if to prove my point on Friday about people talking about how "good" a baby is when they happen to be happy, yesterday we got the opposite - glares, stares, criticism and "helpful" suggestions when he wasn't as happy. Oh, and some excellent almost-masked attitude from smokers at a restaurant. But I'm getting ahead of myself...

First we went to brunch at a great restaurant down on the beach. (Visits to mima and papa often revolve around, or at least focus greatly on, excellent food!) Zachary was again pleased as could be to play with his menu and then his rings throughout the meal. Then we were off to a giant antique fair in West Palm Beach at the South Florida fairgrounds. We attempted his stroller, but he wasn't really happy in it. So we switched to the ergo, and he still wasn't happy and started to break down a bit. Here the looks and glares (real or imagined) got us stressed out a bit; we figured out that he wanted to eat, but had to find a discrete corner in which to set up shop. Zachary was much happier after a snack, and got a few compliments again - but once more, two women working at the fair had to separately comment that "he looks cold. And I'm cold, so you know he's got to be cold...". And then a return of the comments about him needing a hat as we walked outside. *sigh*

In the afternoon, we headed back home and Zachary got to try out his fun new blow-up pool. He loved splashing around in it and grabbing at his fun new pirate ship floaty toy. And mima blew some bubbles that had him fascinated and smiley as well.

And in the evening, we went out to a tasty coal-fired Italian/pizza place nearby. The hostess didn't seem to have a good handle on customer placement; she first sat us down at an outdoor table next to some adults who were all puffing up a storm when I got there. I caught a snippet of their slightly raised conversation that they'd actually intentiontally lit fresh cigarettes right when we sat down to try to give us the point that we were going to be sitting by smokers and should move. Nice. Anyway, mima did an impressively discrete job of getting us moved to a table table along the other patio of the restaurant, where there were already several families with young children sitting. And we weren't positioned here at first why? But as an added bonus, there were several ceiling fans that Zachary kept leaning back to look at - always checking one after the other to make sure they were both still there. Dinner was incredibly tasty, and Zachary once more enjoyed his menu extensively, along with peekaboo from mima and papa. We also ducked into a cute baby shop across from the restaurant afterwards - where we of course came away with for-mommy and for-friend gifts, but nothing for Zachary. :) All in all, another wonderfully fun day despite random strangers' attempts to deflect our good times!

Today has already been jam-packed. After another successfully cute and happy breakfast at the Original Pancake House (similar in menu and tastiness to the one near our own home), this morning featured our return to the beach. Zachary again pretty much conked out when we got there, though this time he stayed down for a little under an hour. At last, we were able to show him the beach and the ocean. He was monkey-faced as we played in the waves a little bit, but I think he had a good time. (Yes, he was fully covered in sunscreen, SPF-rated clothing, and a hat, for yesterday's naysayers.)

Then we were off to Festival, a giant indoor flea market where we can always find eclectic selections of sunglasses, jewelry, Judaica, purses, and cute baby items all under one roof. This time we came out with new sunglasses for Meh and an excellent sushi-themed bib for Zachary. As he always does in retail areas, he had a fabulous time - happily squealing and banging his plastic loops while leaning out of his fabulous mima & papa stroller to see more of the fun wares.

The last stop of the afternoon was for a dessert lunch (well, I think it's okay, since really we had brunch for breakfast...) at Jaxson's, an amazingly tasty ice cream parlor - one of the few that I recall seeing and being in since the heady days of my youth. (Farrell's anyone?) Their special is called 'The Kitchen Sink', and it's served in its namesake - there's a big clanging bell that they ring when someone (well, a group - I think you need a party of 4 or more for it) orders it, which someone did as we were sitting down. The restaurant is covered in floor-to-ceiling license plates; the most clever one I spotted this time was a Michigan plate that said "LATELY". (If you don't get it, here's a hint: I'm guessing it was on a Ford.)

A full day, and we're now back home getting ready (e.g. naps and being mellow) for a BBQ dinner with Zachary's great-grandparents nanny and poppy.