When we arrived at the door, the hostess looked at Kevin and said to me, “Does your little boy need a booster seat?”
I was feeling a little wicked, so I said, “Yes, please. And I forget to bring a bib, you don’t have any, do you?”
“Oh sure. We have a couple of house specialties that are messy so we have a big supply of them.”
“Great!” I said. Kevin shot me a dirty look, but I could tell he was kidding.
She led us over to our table and I lifted Kevin from his stroller and put him in his booster seat. The waitress came over with a disposable plastic bib and children’s menu and package of four crayons for Kevin.
“Comfy?” I asked when she moved away.
“Yeah, this actually isn’t too bad. I’m like the right height for the table now.”
“Maybe you needed a booster all along.”
Kevin cringed a bit. “Wow, I don’t want to think about it.”
The waitress came back with our orders. I ordered for both of us. Kevin wanted gluten-free chicken quesadillas and a glass of lemonade and I was having enchiladas and a diet cola. When I said what Kevin wanted, the waitress asked, “Do you want that off the children’s menu?”
“Ah, no, whatever he doesn’t eat we’ll bring home for lunch.”
“Good call,” she said, “the adult portion is the better buy and I always find it to be enough for two meals. Do you have a sippy cup you want to use for his lemonade?”
“Oooh, no.” I said.
“No problem, we’ve got really cute kiddie cups. I think he’ll like the one we have tonight. I only ask because some little guys want to use their own cups, and get fussy when they don’t get it.” Then she turned to Kevin and rubbed his hair saying in babytalk, “But I bet a little cutie like you never gets fussy, do you?”
Kevin had the good grace to sit there and take it. When she left, he said, “I should have bit her.”
“Be nice,” I said. I picked up a crayon and drew a tic-tac-toe board. “Wanna play?”
“Okay,” he said.
We played about 8 games and got board. They were all draws. Then we began a game of “Dots and Boxes” that we never finished before the waitress came with our food and drinks. “Should have started with that.” Kevin grumbled. (He was winning.)
The waitress put our food down and said to me, “Can I do his bib for you?”
“Yes, please.” I said with a smile.
She picked up the bib and opened it with a flourish and walked behind Kevin and said, “We don’t want to get such a handsome young man all mess, do we? No, We don’t” She tied it around Kevin’s neck and asked him if it felt okay.
He looked up at me with murder in his eyes but smiled up at her and nodded his head up and down. “Such a little cutie,” she said. “I’ll bring you some wet naps to clean up his hands after he eats. This could be messy for him.”
After she left, he looked at me and said, “You’re evil.”
“Maybe a little. But I’m fun to be around.” And we both laughed.