I haven't had a lot to write recently, what with life in general, so I hope you'll excuse my absence. Today I want to tell you about an experience we had yesterday. I still don't quite know how I feel about it. Do I feel bad or guilty? Do I think I should feel bad or guilty, and feel a little guilty because in fact I don't? It's odd.

Melody had been quite good all morning, so before we did our shopping, I took her to McDonald's for lunch. It was busy, but not over crowded. We found a booth in the corner, and right as we sat down, a little boy who had been sitting with a woman and her son came over and sat in our booth. Okay, odd, but I looked at the woman and said - loud enough for her to hear "oh, are you going to sit with us buddy?" I fully expected the woman to collect her child, but instead, the woman and her son walked away. What? This boy wasn't her son after all.

He looked at our food and said "french fries." The boy was probably 7 or 8 years old and didn't speak well, so I wondered if he spoke Spanish. He took some fries and started eating. Odd. I looked around for parents who were frantically looking for thier kid...there weren't any. I asked him his name and he babbled. I asked him where his mommy was. He babbled and said "french fries." I asked him in Spanish "donde estas su mama? su abuela?"

He said nothing except "french fries," and continued eating ours.

Melody was observing all this while she munched on her chicken nuggets. She is incredibly sweet, and asked me if she could give him one of her nuggets. I didn't let her. Was it fear of what was happening - which was indeed a strange situation? Was it some sense that a parent would show up from where ever they were? I don't know, but I told her to keep her nugget, but that she was very kind for wanting to offer it to him.

I continued to scan the restaurant for adults looking for a missing child, but none were apparent. I realized it was possible this boy was lost. Had a family accidentally left without him? Had he been abandoned at McDonald's intentionally? So, I asked him to come with me to find the manager of the store...and he freaked.

He started screaming and ran away from me! At that moment I realized something was very "not right" about him and it wasn't that he needed to learn English. It was a language barrier though.

A woman who had been seated facing away from us jumped up when she heard the scream and went after him. Another woman came from the counter where she'd been ordering meals. I'm ashamed to admit that I judged the second woman based on her appearance - overly thin, unkempt appearance, scabby arms and face. She was an addict.

The two women collected the screaming boy and shot glances over our way. The skinny woman sat down in the booth with him and held him while he screamed and screamed. He wanted french fries. The other woman came over to us and apologized profusely. She was his grandmother, they just got into town to visit, she thought the boy was out with his mother's "friend" in the play area, he's autistic. She offered to buy us some more fries, which I declined. I told her that I had just been concerned that he'd gotten lost and was alone. I apologized for upsetting him.

I felt so bad. I felt bad for the boy. I felt bad for the grandmother. I don't know what the family situation is, and I must not judge them based on the brief interaction at a McDonald's, but for heaven's sake, if the "friend" wasn't watching the kids, and the mother wasn't watching the kids, and the grandparents didn't know they were supposed to be watching the kids, who the heck is watching the kids?? This boy is autistic and needs a little extra attention in what could turn out to be stressful situations. His mother didn't even speak to us. In fact she avoided us. I imagine she was embarrassed, so I can't really blame her for that.

I hope that I'm seeing things wrong, and that their family is very happy, healthy, well fed and taken care of; the mother is just naturally skinny, the "friend" is a great father figure, and all the kids are getting all the education and attention they need. I hope that's the case.

But I still felt bad somehow.

Melody has been enjoying playing in the sprinklers. More pictures in the gallery, or click here for a cute slideshow.

Recently, my online friend Kate told me that her family would be here in California for a wedding and they wanted to meet us! I was super excited because this would be my first 2D friend from my mom's group that I would meet in person. As the anticipated visit approached we decided we'd meet at the Aquarium of the Pacific, as they were staying in LA and we're in OC. It seemed like a good "in between" spot.

On the day of our Aquarium visit, Melody was beside herself with excitement! She's seen the large aquarium at Rainforest Cafe, and when we told her there would be an even bigger one, plus sea lions, sharks, rays, and more, well you can imagine her ebullience. Needless to say, it was all good! Melody and Jordan hit it off, and I felt like I'd known Kate forever. There's something about sharing your most personal secrets with your mom's group to just tear down the barriers.

Melody did not really want to touch any of the fish although they were in a "touching pool" for just that purpose. The pool contained rays and sharks and a few other fish I don't recall. I did persuade her to touch a starfish and an anemone, but that was where she drew the line. 

The Aquarium also has a lorikeet forest (though how these are fish related I'm unsure) that guests can walk through. I am NOT a bird person but these parakeet-like birds are very tame and beautiful. Their vivid color just doesn't translate in photos. They must be seen to be believed. These lorikeets are likely all raised in captivity and handled so they are very tame. Although we didn't purchase the bird feed, many people had the little cups of nectar that the birds enjoy and were feeding them. The birds would fly right over to the person holding the nectar cup and land right on their arm or shoulder, then proceed to sip the nectar from the cup. Maybe next time we'll do that.

It was a lovely day and we are all looking forward to going back again soon! Pictures in the gallery, enjoy!

New pictures in the gallery from Easter Sunday. We hunted for eggs in the morning and then went over to Gramma & Papa's house for brunch, bubbles and fun. All in all, a great day!

Click the picture for more like this one.