Policemen Parents

Isn't is policemen who take an oathe to protect and serve when they become oficial? Well, I think thatwhen you become a new parent, you take the same oathe.


I remember when Ricardo and I went to Chicago, with little Ellie, who was just over 1 year old.


It was not a fun trip. We got lost a thousand times, had no money, had no CASH, (which it turns out you need for EVERYTHING in Chicago, as no one accepts debit cards)... we turned on each other and fought almost the whole time we were there. When we tried to leave, we got lost and ended up on the Wrong Side of Chicago. You know what I mean.

When we finally made it out of the city, and past the 2 hour traffic jam on the interstate, we were hungry and stopped at a family friendly Italian restaurant for some grub. I'm not being one of those delusional moms who takes a kid into a 5 star restaurant or yuppy singles only cafes and then doesn't know why I get dirty looks. There were lots of families there. Promise.

We were seated, Ellie in a highchair, and were waiting for our food. Ellie grabbed a spoon and started banging on the table. The table had a tablecloth on it, so it wasn't like straight metal-on-wood-kill-myself-obnoxious noise. It was muffled. It didn't even bother Ricardo and I, whose nerves were super frayed by that point. In fact, we didn't even notice her doing it.

Until the dumb broad behind us (who looked like she SHOULD be in a yuppies-only-5-star-restaurant and obviously had no children because *gasp!* that would ruin her figure) snapped, "Excuse me, can you stop doing that?"

I turned around, not sure she was talking to us. She was staring right at me. "What?" I asked.

"Can you not bang that spoon on the table?"

At this point I though, this woman must be really stupid... so I responded to her as such.

"I'm not banging the spoon on the table, my daughter is. And she's a baby." 

I turned around and Ricardo and I shook our heads, like can you believe this woman???

Ellie continued to bang her spoon, and the couple continued to complain loudly behind us.

Ricardo turned around, and (bless his heart) in his still-kinda-broken English, said, "If you don't like it, find someplace else to sit."

Their mouths dropped open, and as soon as the waiter appeared, they requested to be moved to another part of the restaurant. :)

When they were gone, a family sitting across the way congratulated us, and told us that Ellie was adorable and not bothering anyone, and that we should bring her there any time we wanted.

No, thanks... We'll be steering clear of Chicago for as long as possible!

But seriously, those nasty Chicago-ans didn't know what hit them when they dared mess with my sweet baby Ellie!