Today I witnessed my first experience with a kid getting physical with my kid. I think this is a major milestone for a new mom, seeing some other kid do something that may possibly hurt your baby. We were in the kids shoes area of Nordstrom. A little boy (maybe 2 or 3) was running around without anyone watching over him. He came over a couple of times to hand William shoes and then would run away. Awww, sweet, I thought.
As I was paying, William was about six feet away from me checking out the line of Converse when the little boy approached. He took the blue helium balloon that William received for being such a good boy when his feet were measured and then smacked William in the face with it. My little guy went down fast.
My feet were moving before my brain was actually working and I was sternly saying, "No, no, no. No hitting!" I pealed William off the ground and looked the little boy in the eye and again told him that hitting is not OK. Then I frantically looked around for his mom/nanny/grandma. I have no idea where his caretaker was, but William started to cry and the boy bolted with his balloon. I returned to finish paying and the sales associate offered William a new balloon. I took a yellow one for him and went back to the stroller. He wasn't happy and continued to whine for the blue balloon.
A moment later the little boy was back, holding out the blue balloon to William. I thanked him and told him what a nice boy he was and then looked up to see if there was anyone watching, hoping to lock eyes with someone looking after this boy. And there was no one. That's when I realized exactly who his mother was... She had been yelling at the sales people when I first arrived while texting on her blackberry and impatiently rocking the stroller that held a little baby. I think she was Russian and had limited English when I heard her yelling earlier, so while I wanted to take this little guy's hand and walk him back over to her and possibly mention that he had jumped my kid for a balloon, I didn't. I would get no where and I knew it, so I used restraint. Can you believe it? I still can't, but I know it was the better thing to do.
I was so pissed when I first saw him go after William, but I realized it wasn't because he was a nasty kid. It wasn't his fault, it was his caretaker's. And I'm still pissed at that person, whoever she may be. My heart hurts for this little boy, who will knock over another kid sometime soon and see the same anger in another mother's eyes. He's too young to just know better and too young to understand why other mommies are yelling at him. If I could do anything different, I still wouldn't have yelled at his mom, I would have given him a hug.
(Seriously! Look what having a kid is doing to me!!!! I'm getting all soft.)
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Poor William! You crack me up with your comments. You had to peal him off the ground! So dramatic! You really have changed! I completly expected the ending to be that you got into a verbal fight with his caretaker. Good for you!
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