A disaster waiting to happen

So I was going to do this story in a Not Me! Monday post but, after getting into it, I was getting annoyed just reading it back to myself. I chose to spare you the "not's" and just tell you about how close we came to disaster.

Since our trip to Montreal was not planned, I didn't have time to do my normal leg work and research family friendly restaurants to eat dinner. I tried to do a small search on my Blackberry (have I mentioned how much I love that phone??) while Natey napped on Friday to see where we should go for dinner. I found a few places in a Frommer's guide that sounded good. The only problem was, the review didn't give much detail about the restaurants themselves, but rather how great the food was. We arrived at the tapas restaurant I had picked only to discover that they had no openings until 9pm. Why did I assume that we wouldn't need reservations on a Friday night?? I have no clue but, needless to say, we couldn't wait that long to eat so we went down my list to the next restaurant that sounded great.

I called this time, as we headed over, to make sure there was no wait. They said no problem and they would set a table up for us. As we get closer to the restaurant, we realized it was right down the street from our hotel, so Aaron dropped Nate and I off and he went to park back at the hotel. I walked into the restaurant and instantly my stomach dropped. We had just entered a 4 star, fine dining restaurant. Now, most of you have or have had 2 year olds and you know they are not prime candidates for fine dining. I panicked inside. I was too embarrassed to just walk out and Aaron wasn't with me at the moment for moral support. I saw the look of apprehension on the face of just about EVERY member of the restaurant staff that noticed my small child. I was hoping they couldn't see I was terrified too.

I decided before we sat down to take Natey to the restroom. There I hatched my plan.

"Buddy, we"re going to play a game".
"Ok Mommy, what's that kinda game?"
"We're going to be as quiet as possible and only whisper the whole time we're having dinner. OK?"
{Whispering} "Ok, mommy".
"That's good, bud. If you do a good job on the game you get some ice cream as a treat when we're done"
{Still whispering} "Ok!"

We walked to the table, my head held high while my insides were as tight as a drum. Aaron arrived and noticed the situation too. We knew we had to make this as quick as was humanly possible. Next I opened the menu and saw the prices. Ouch. The only thing I saw that I could share with Nate was pasta with veal meatballs to the tune of $38!!! We were in too deep at this point so we just made the best of it. Now, when I am going to pay $38 dollars for my entree and $44 for Aaron's, I like to dine at a leisurely pace. You know, drink some wine, have nice conversation and savor every bite. Not this time folks. I managed to keep Natey entertained (and silent) by giving him a package of Spiderman fruit snacks and pulling up a cartoon on my Blackberry (I think I've mentioned how much I love this phone) while we waited for the food.

The food came, Natey ate over half of my fine dining sized portion of pasta and meatballs and we ate in record time. The waiter asked if we wanted desert, we declined, paid our bill and stood to leave. I have never been more relieved and proud of my boy than I was when I walked out of that restaurant, holding my toddler's hand. My toddler, who managed to be almost silent for the entire duration of the meal. My toddler, who ate his food with only a small mess (which my hubby covered with his napkin). My boy who got the biggest hug and the promise of ice cream as soon as we left that silent place.

I think I felt a small gust of wind when we left. That gust was most likely the collective sigh of relief from every waiter, manager and diner in that establishment watching us walk out the door with no incident.