A less than pleasant story-time

After dropping Mark off at work this morning, Jessa and I decided to explore a bit. The road seemed to point us directly to a Borders so in we went. I have to say, it didn't feel very welcoming. It was clean and it was tidy but I felt like I was being judged. I was carrying Jessica around on one hip and had chosen a calendar in the 50% section. It was the last of it's kind, otherwise I would have left it there and picked it back up on my way out. We continue to browse and come across some discounted plushees. As I help the babybear choose one (she was very excited) I laid the calendar down. Being obviously baby distracted, I forgot to pick the calender back up. It was a few minutes later when I saw it sitting at the little customer service desk in the middle of the shop when I remembered. I retrieved it from it's new location and went back to shopping, but from this point on I felt like the staff, who were gossiping in their little island were snarking at me. How dare I put something down where I didn't get it from. I must be a horrible person. I was obviously leaving it there on purpose, just so they'd have to move and put it back.

It was around 10am when we were leaving and one of the staff (from the friendlier bunch at the front of the store) mentioned that they do a story-time on Thursdays at 10:30am. She repeated a couple times that Jessica was probably too little still but that we should come when she was older. (How can you be too little for story time?)

Well, I bought her the 75% off pumpkin plushee and off to Best Buy we went. I have to say, everyone in Best Buy was incredibly friendly even though I was just browsing. A quick trip into Old Navy where we bought some of the softest babybear pants ever and then it was 10:30am. I thought, maybe we'd pop back in just to see what this story-time was all about. Afterall, the lady I spoke to sounded like she was the one running it and she was quite taken with Jessica.

We head to the back of the store and find some baby sized benches. There's a few moms and at least one dad with their kids. The ages seem to range from tiny tiny to 6 or 7. (Yes, tiny tiny is a technical term.) Sadly, the kind lady who'd told us about it was not reading the story, but one of the snarky duo from the custom service desk. Okay, so not a great start.

I let Jessa toddle into the fray (afterall she interacted great with all the babies at Stroller Strides). MISTAKE! Some of these children are feral! A little girl who was walking and could speak but was still in the tiny range was everywhere. She was on the stage area, falling over benches, just everywhere. She kept pointing at Jessa, saying "Baby!" Obviously she knows what babies are, however, it looks at though no one has ever explained to her how to treat babies. Jessa walks up to her while she's sitting on a bench and she starts kicking at her chest. You can practically see the thoughts on Jessica's face. "What is this new game? I don't think I like it." I quickly pull her away. (No parental intervention from the other child's guardian.) A few minutes later I decide to let Jessica down again. She curiously peeps her head around at one of the older children and tries to pet their toy dog. (A stuffed animal with tags still on it that the child had obviously just taken off the shelf to play with as a few of the kids seemed to have done.) This girl, who looked like she'd woken up in a tornado, practically snarls at Jess and yanks the toy away even though Jessie wasn't even touching it anymore. Once again I scoop my baby back up and retreat. The third and final time I let her down she tries crawling instead of walking and the feral child from the beginning shows up and starts stomping on her hands!!! This was more than I could handle and I had to muster every bit of control I had to contain my Mommy Rage. This time our retreat was permanent and we quickly left the store mid story. Perhaps that's what she meant by "too young" my baby needs to be a bit more world wise and weary before holding her own against these particular tots!

It will be quite a while before I return to that particular story-time! I should have just gone Stroller Skating with my Strides class!