Live and Learn

I had a casual business meeting yesterday.  It was at a St. Louis Bread Company so I decided rather than round up childcare for Landon and Tia, I’d just take them along.  No big deal.  They know how to behave in a restaurant.

Riiiight.

I’m not sure exactly when I determined that bringing them along was a bad idea.  It might have been about the time that Landon started dipping his napkin in his cup.  Or maybe it was when he poured his entire cup of water over his sandwich.

No, that wasn’t it.

It could have been the moment when they both crawled under the table and started peeking their eyes up over the edge and laughing hysterically.  At that point I got a nagging feeling that this meeting wasn’t going as well as it could have.

I think the breaking point came when they spilled out from under the table and began wrestling on the floor.  Right in the middle of the restaurant.  Shrieking and laughing.

Yeah.  That was it.  That was the moment that I knew bringing them along had been a very. bad. idea.

Thankfully, the woman I was meeting was gracious, a mom herself, and had a great sense of humor.  We might even be able to do a little work together.

Provided, of course, that I never bring my kids along again.