Recently, while listening to Juicebox Heroes's Suck My Thumb song at the same time we were pulling up to the school to drop off, Vanessa shrieked "Mom! You better turn this down! Don't do this to me, Mom! Why are you laughing?! Turn it off, Mom. Thank YOU." It was so funny -- a song we used to think was cute and relatable is now quite embarrassing and in no way could one be caught dead listening to it with her family.
At dinner one night: "Hendrix, just sit down. Why won't he stay seated?"
"Vanessa, he's just like you with this. He doesn't stay in the highchair very well. We had to strap you in and even then you yelled. It's why we hardly ever went to restaurants with you."
"Why not just use a highchair at the restaurant? All restaurants have them."
"You wouldn't stay in the chair. You were all over the place. And you were loud. Some people thought it was cute and funny but we didn't, and we didn't want you to think it was an appropriate way to behave. Your busyness made it hard to sit there and enjoy dinner. One time I had to take you to the van after a major fit. And I sat with you while your dad sat in the restaurant to finish eating."
Vanessa's face dropped with sadness and guilt. Her eyes teared up a tad and her face turned red. She was embarrassed and felt horrible. It was obvious. We reminded her she didn't know any better and we love her and eventually Hendrix will settle down too. Just like her, he's a busy guy with lots to do. It's only for a short time . . . and now for her, we can look back and laugh. :-)
