....and then I became that mom

   Nixon and I had a playdate today, our second with this particular group from meetup.com. We started in a play area at the local mall, then moved onto the reason we were all there, the bounce house play area! Nixon wanted nothing to do with the bounce houses, but he did enjoy the basketball game and (joy of mommy) the air hockey table! He asked me to play with him and he was actually good, keeping in mind he's almost 4 and it was his first time seeing the game. He was good with the paddle and puck and had decent concept of the game, though he did like knocking the puck into his own goal more than shooting for mine. 
   After the bounce house area we went to the food court for lunch, mostly uneventful time. I really enjoyed meeting a couple other moms and Nixon had fun with a few kids AND he wasn't the tallest kid there! (This is something I'm not familiar with lol)
   When it came time to break up and go our own ways, things went wonkey. Nixon rode a helicopter riding ride before we made the long trek back to the car. I stopped and let Nixon pick a splat toy from one of the kiosks. He had it, in the protective bag, when I entered a lotion store hoping to purchase a new body wash and matching lotion in a scent I've become obsessed with (coconut lime, in case anyone was wondering). While I was looking at the options, I suddenly hear Nixon exclaim "Oh no!" and turn to see that he has popped a hole in the toy through the protective bag and it had leaked all over himself and the floor! I quickly walk over to the sales attendant and apologize for the mess, asking if she had paper towels. She took it as I wanted her to clean it, while that was not my intent I couldn't focus on that because....Nixon had started flipping out over the leak! I took the toy from, apologized again and left the store, with a crying sad child holding my hand. When that stopped, the walking not the crying, I was then carrying a crying child! We, at one point, reached an area with no people around so I took advantage of it and threw the toy out. And the crying got worse! 
   Just about 10 minutes later (but it felt like forever to me!) we reached the exit. Nixon was still crying, now tossing out gems like "But mommy I'll be good!" and "It wasn't my fault" as we walked past strangers. He got put in the car, buckled up, given BeBe and we went home, where he eventually napped for 3 hours and the damned splat toy was never mentioned again.

   I'm the mom that had a child make a mess in the store and didn't buy anything from the store. I fully intend to, but next time I'm taking advantage of the in-mall child drop-off area. I won't be making this same mistake twice!    
   If you happened to have walked by my snotty, crying mess of a child while at the Westfield Mall in Annapolis....I'm sorry. But in my defense he wasn't screaming. For that, people at the mall, you are welcome!