If You Can't Say Something Nice...

Well, it took Mommy four years to reach her breaking point, but she finally said something to a man staring while she tube fed me in Target. Lots of people have stared over the years, and some have said some really stupid things, but this man was particularly rude.

I was sitting in the front of the cart, just blowing bubbles and minding my own business. Mommy was giving me my milk, and we were back up against a wall to be noticed as least as possible. That's usually the goal anyway. But today, directly across from us at the register, a man was staring at us. Mommy was already irritated because several people had looked over and stared as they walked by. But at least they just kept going. This man didn't even notice that Mommy was looking right at him. Most times when she does that, the people quickly look away. Not this guy. He actually wandered over to near where we were standing, stood there watching for a minute, then wandered back to his family. He did that just to sneak a peek, and again, never noticed Mommy's eyes burning a hole through his head.

When he got back to his family, he whispered to his son (probably 12 or so) and his son turned around to stare at us. The man didn't notice Mommy, and he moved on to whisper to his wife. She looked, but she must have felt the fire in my mommy's eyes, because she looked away really fast. Then the man whispered to his daughter (probably 14), but the mother caught her before she turned around. So she tried to be smooth about it, and look without being obvious. That didn't work, because Mommy was still staring at all of them. She should have waved hello. That would have been funny. But she was too mad to be funny.

Mommy finished giving me my milk right about the same time the family was done checking out. Mommy and I were in front of them going towards the exit, when Mommy said, "I have to say something this time, Boo." So she did!

Mommy turned around and the woman was right behind her. "Ma'am," Mommy said, "You really should tell your husband that when he wants to stare at a disabled baby, he should be a little more discreet about it." The lady looked very embarassed, but she never did apologize. She just said, "Oh, no, he didn't mean anything by it." The man said the same thing. So Mommy looked at him and said, "I watched you stare at my baby, and then whisper to every member of your family while you all turned to look. You never even noticed me looking right at you." Again, he just kept saying "I didn't mean anything." So Mommy just kept going. "What are teaching your children by behaving this way? If you had a question, you should have asked me. You should not have encouraged your family to stare at my baby like she is a side show." Again, same thing: "I didn't mean anything." Never an apology. So Mommy just pointed out that it was extremely rude and we walked away.

(I would just like to point out here that I am four. I am a big girl, I am NOT a baby. But I didn't think Mommy was in the mood to be corrected.)

Mommy was very proud of herself for saying the things she wanted to say. She wanted to point out that she would have answered questions. And she wanted to call him out on teaching his children that it was okay to act like that. I think she got her point across, and hopefully it taught his children a lesson too. Mommy was also very proud of herself for not even letting her voice crack, and walking out head high until we got to the car. Then she sat in the back seat with me in her lap, and she cried and snuggled me. I personally just thought it was funny that Mommy was sitting in my back seat!

We went to the Yankee Candle store after that, even though Mommy just wanted to go home. It was our last stop, and we are glad we did go. Because they went on and on about how beautiful I was, and they let me pull stuff off the shelves even when Mommy told me "No ma'am." I think I'd like to go back to that store. I could have a lot of fun with all those breakable candle jars. Plus, who doesn't want to listen to people talk about how great I am?! It was perfect timing today.