portlandmommy

I cannot bare to put myself, or another patron, through the disruption that my son currently is in restaurants, for a long, long time.  Yesterday, early evening, Gary, Alexander, and I met up with my brother Andrew and our step-dad Keith at the Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner.  We arrived at 5:00 PM, which was a fantastic time!  Hardly anyone was there!  By 6:00 PM, a different story, quite busy.

I thought this was going to be great.  I had high expectations.  We were seated with a view of the Willamette.  No-one else near by.  There were crayons and bread on it’s way.  Fantastic, this was going to work.  But oh no, of course not.  Two large groups of people were soon seated near us and Alexander took no time to eat the blue crayon then the red.  Well, at least the Spaghetti factory is typically quick with it’s service.  It actually wasn’t bad.  Perhaps a little slower, but I hadn’t taken into account that Keith eats slow and felt no need to hurry things along.  (He never had children of his own, so he completely skipped this part of my brother and my life.)

Before I could get through my salad, Alex was howling.  Not upset.  No he was happy to hear his voice echo and chuu chuu.  He has no inside voice to speak of yet.  I got up from the table as the main course was arriving to give everyone near us a break. 

 We went to the ladies room.  He played in the sink and I checked for any spoilage.  I took advantage of a quick potty break for myself when he darted into a stall.  I have to be quick now.  He can unlatch the doors.  Oh crap, almost flashed another lady.  Saved by my quick reflexes and new found ability to multitask in ways I hadn’t previously imagined before having a toddler.

 Back at the table, we managed to get through the meal with great thanks to a man making balloon animals.  So sweet and clever he made Alex a balloon train.  Uh oh, there’s the chuu chuu again!  So we stay for ice-cream, pop part of the balloon and exit the building with a screaming child.  He had a great time.  I, not so much. 

I don’t want to be the mother with the loud child.  Even at the so very family friendly restaurants.  The wait staff is so gracious and act like it’s no big deal and common occurrence.  Well, perhaps it is common.  But it doesn’t mean I like it.  So Gary and I agreed that it’s just not in his current temperament and skill set to have table manners in public, and that we’ll wait awhile to try dinner out as a family again.

Thank you Old Spaghetti Factory.  You are still one of my personal favorites.  Side note:  I love this restaurant because I have very fond childhood memories.  The very first and original Old Spaghetti Factory was located on SW 2nd, where the underage club The Quest currently is.  They used to play silent movies in their waiting area, and my dad would read them to me as I sat so silent and obedient on his lap.  That’s how I remember it anyway.

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