Today I took Rory to the outlet mall to try and find some clothes for him since my son is a baby giant and has outgrown EVERYTHING HE OWNS. Unfortunately, he has only so much patience for his stroller, so I decided to put him in the Baby Bjorn and carry him around to keep him happy (although my back will probably never forgive me for it.)
After doing a little shopping for him, I thought a little window shopping for myself was in order, so I headed over to the Nike outlet store to take a look at their sneakers. As I was waddling around the store with my 20 lb baby strapped to my body, I heard someone come up behind me and say "Your baby is so cute!". I turned to say thank you and saw a woman wearing the Nike store uniform standing there smiling strangely. She started talking really fast and saying "I just love babies! Babies are so cute! I'm really good with babies! Babies love me!" and she kept trying to grab Rory's hands. Now, I could tell right away that she was mentally challenged, so I was trying to be patient with her, but she kept grabbing at Rory's hands and face. I could tell that it was starting to scare him, and then he a few seconds later, he began to cry. So I said with as nice of a smile as I could muster, "Sorry, he doesn't really like strangers touching him. It upsets him." But she kept saying "Oh no, babies just LOVE me!" and she WOULDN"T STOP! I finally had to turn so my back was between her and Rory so she couldn't reach him. I quickly said "Ok, we've got to go now, thanks!" and I began to hurry out of the store with my hysterical son. Then, as if that wasn't enough, she actually FOLLOWED US to the door and I have to admit I was starting to freak out a little bit. However, when we got to the exit, she stopped and started waving like a maniac and yelling "Bye baby! Buh Bye, baby!"
It took me 20 minutes to calm Rory down after that and I was pretty shook up myself. I felt like I had just paid a visit to the twilight zone! Perhaps I didn't handle that right? If something like that should ever happen again in the future, any suggestions on how to manage the situation? How do you tell strangers not to touch your child without being rude?
(And by the way, don't take your babies to the Nike outlet in Camarillo! Consider yourselves warned!)
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yeah, we've had a few random, baby related acostments too. i usually freak out when it happens and basically run away. people that talk to strangers freak me out. i also just looove it when people grab my arms and pull up my sleaves to see my tattoos without asking. especially when i'm looking the other way!
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