It's finally happened.

Last night, we were out at dinner, and Lillian never actually sat down. At all. Not once. Through the entire meal. And then it hit me. It used to be that we'd go out and our angel of a daughter would sit in her high chair and munch on bits of cracker or bread. As she got older, she'd color and say cute things. More than once, someone near us would comment on how well behaved she was and express their desire to have kids that laid back.

Those comments have abruptly stopped. And last night, as Lillian bounced up and down on the seat and stared at (and even counted!!) the people in the booth behind us and crawled under the table several times to sit by each of us, I realized that we've become one of THOSE families. You know the ones - the ones who can't control their children and seem to be completely oblivious to what's going on around them? Yeah. That was us.

And I was so totally embarrassed and wanted to climb under the table myself if that wouldn't have added to my embarrassment level. Because I totally hate when some stranger's kid stares at me through my entire meal or bonks me on the back of the head while they jump on the seat (thank goodness I don't think that actually happened last night). Of course I never blame the kid - It's always the PARENTS' FAULT.

But for those of you who aren't yet experiencing this wonderful stage in toddlerhood, let me share my recent epiphany (and hopefully those who have experienced it will back me up): IT'S NOT THE PARENTS' FAULT. And we definitely weren't oblivious - as much as it may have seemed that way while we tried to actually enjoy our own dinners. No matter how many times we asked Lily to sit down or stay in one spot or turn around or "Please eat your grilled cheese sandwich that you asked the waitress for very loudly and then decided needed an entire jigger of grape jelly when it came but now you haven't even touched," she just continued to do whatever she wanted.

I suppose we should have just left, but as embarrassed as I was, I'm hoping it wasn't as bad as I remember or thought at the time. Or maybe it was and the people around us were cursing our very presence. In an effort at complete honesty, I will tell you that although we weren't oblivious, we were just thrilled she was happy and not screaming and crying like she had been an hour earlier at Wal-mart, so admittedly, we probably weren't as forceful as we could (should???) have been, especially since she was being relatively quiet despite the constant movement. All I know for sure is that I was completely, totally, and utterly exhausted just from watching Lily's activities for the hour we were at that restaurant.

I also know I will now be a million times more tolerant when it's someone else's kid and eternally grateful when it's not my own.