When In Doubt Don't Bounce!

The other day while I was out trying to enjoy a quick lunch, I found it quickly interrupted.

A couple of tables away from me there were two ladies and a toddler. Knowing that toddlers will be toddlers, I specifically choose a table a little bit away from them. But I found it wasn’t the toddler that I had to be worried about.

I soon realized that it was the little boy’s first birthday (Yay! Happy Birthday!) and that his mother and her friend had brought him out to have a cupcake on his actual birthday. From the conversation I overheard, his birthday party was taking place in a couple of days.

The little boy’s mother then left the table to go order something else to eat. It was quickly apparent that the friend didn’t quite know what to do with the little boy. (To me he seemed very content sitting there and smiling at the ladies that he could make eye contact with.) So she decided to pull out a toy. This toy was a conglomerate of plastic things on a bouncy string. She then began bouncing the plastic things on the table.

Everyone close by figured out pretty quickly that it wasn’t the little boy bouncing the items due to the rhythmic sound the plastic was making as it struck the plastic table top. Just when I thought I was the only person annoyed by the noise, another customer next to me looked up and had a similar expression of disbelief on her face.

The little boy finally turned around and looked at the toy, but then he did something interesting…he pulled it from her hands and he dropped it on the ground. YAY! But that wasn’t the end of it. She then proceeded to pick up the toy and started bouncing it again. Once again the little boy took it from her and guess what? He dropped it on the ground!

Now, I am not a baby expert, but….I am thinking that if he really wanted to play with the toy, he wouldn’t keep dropping it on the floor. Well, obviously she thought she was a baby expert so she picked up the toy yet AGAIN and began to bounce it on the table!

Fortunately the little boy’s mom returned and the bouncing stopped. Maybe she heard it from the counter and decided to put us all out of our misery and return to the table. Thank goodness for small favors!