Hi, my name is Kelly and I write about being a dad. Let me tell you 
Manuscript is complete. April is reading it for the first time.
Thursday, September 3rd, 2009
Bored
“Daddy?” Alleke said, peering up at me from under the restaurant table.
“Yes Alleke?” I asked, nodding a thanks to the waitress as she set down a plate in front of me.
“I need to go to the bathroom,” Alleke said triumphantly.
I took a closer look at the plate of roasted duck sitting in front of me, sighed heavily, then pushed my chair back and took Alleke by the hand.
Our friends Erin and Derek from Florida are visiting for a week. They enjoy food like us, so we’ve been taking them to some of our favorite restaurants. When Erin asked if we go out to eat often, I said, “When we have visitors,” with a grin, “so thanks for being our excuse.”
What I’ve discovered this week, however, is that situations parents find relaxing, kids find boring. And if kids are bored, parents aren’t relaxed.
The night before we were sitting at a candle-lit table in Plaza Santa Ana, talking, eating a table full of colorful tapas, drinking wine, listening to the guitar player strum his flamenco music, while Alleke kicked off her shoes and climbed all over me and my chair like we were her own personal jungle gym.
When Alleke got tired of climbing around, she told me she had to go to the bathroom, and she dragged me across the street into the restaurant and through the cocktail bar in the basement to the bathrooms. She asked me to wait outside the stall while she did her business, then balanced on my knee while she got soap on her hands and made bubbles in the sink, and finally asked me to hold her up by the waist so she could feel the hot air from the hand dryer on her hands.
Before we had kids, I said I wouldn’t let kids stop me from doing the things I enjoy doing. The flaw in that plan is if Alleke isn’t enjoying what we’re doing, I’m not going to enjoy it either.
MORE ON: city life, food, madrid, parenting, spain, toddler
8 COMMENTS
My son always goes to the bathroom at least 4 times whenever we go to a restaurant.
September 4, 2009 at 3:13 am
oh no, it never crossed my mind that she would want to go more than once!
as for a babysitter, we can't afford to pay for a babysitter and a meal at a nice restaurant, unless it's for a special occasion. we used to go for walks and push alleke in the stroller. we would talk and alleke would watch people, but now she wants to be a part of the conversation.
September 4, 2009 at 6:03 am
Poor you! If I were there in Madrid, I would doubtless want to babysit Alleke for you for free because she seems really adorable!
September 4, 2009 at 1:28 pm
So sweet to read you… I wanna have kids 
— not now, though.
What I find curious in class is that the need of going to the bathroom is soooo contagious between kids…
Cheers,
Deprisa
Samuel and I had a conversation about this predicament yesterday . . . we were invited to go out to lunch with some friends after church. We haven't seen these friends in a long time, and they just had a baby and we want to get to know them better. When Fernando asked if we were going to join them, Josiah was up on the stage playing with the microphone and drums again, and Isabela was squirming around in my arms wanting to get down and follow her brother.
I sighed and said . . . I don't know, it's difficult with the kids. . . I managed to make my way to find Samuel and he said, "Yes, we're going!" To which I responded, "Ok, then you're in charge of the kids!"
We were there with another family with kids the same age as ours. The babies played between the wall and the table as my friend fed them bread for awhile, then Samuel held Bela, with friends on either side of him on the crowded bench. I spent most of the meal trying to keep Josiah from crawling under the table or kicking his friend sitting next to him, and also trying to convince him to eat!
Of course, eventually Bela ended up in my lap after I rescued her from being smothered by the three other kids who were now all trapped in the small space between the table and the wall. And, of course, she immediately pulled my shirt open in search of her only pacifier. I finally took her to the bathroom to nurse her, but it was typically Spanish: no toilet seat, and the rim was dirty. So there I stood holding my 20 pound baby in the middle of the bathroom, longing for a family-friendly restaurant.
But, as Samuel said, if we are ever going to build relationships and have a social life, we're just going to have to do it!
September 7, 2009 at 3:43 pm
oh Robyn, I think you should have written this blog post!
September 7, 2009 at 3:58 pm
Spain dad we get family to baby sit for our nights out. Maybe that's not an option.
September 15, 2009 at 8:48 pmLEAVE YOUR COMMENT
Todd said...
Baby-sitter? Hope you and April are able to have dates without child(ren) occasionally.
September 4, 2009 at 2:30 am