We are officially "those people"

We went for brunch this morning to that perenially tres chic venue, IHOP. Mommy needs her pumpkin pancakes, yo. And now that our little dude is sitting up like a champ, we figured he would be perfect for a high-chair. This is much to Dad's delight -- usually us going out = Dad holding Isaac on his lap, desperately trying to entertain Isaac long enough to shove some food in the Dad pie-hole. And just when this was getting much more complicated, here we have our sit-up boy, who can control himself well-enough to free up Dad's hands for a more enjoyable dining experience. Here's Isaac in his first restaurant high chair:


Well, a more enjoyable dining experience for *us*, anyway. IHOP was very busy, and we still got shoved to a back corner table, which we liked better anyway because it was a little more private. When we first got there, a couple slightly older than us + their mom and dad were eating in the booth next to us, and none of them could keep their delighted eyes off of our chirpy-monster. We were quite grateful for this because Isaac was, well, not loud, let's say, but also not quiet. However, these people soon left and were replaced by a 30-something couple who said things very quietly about how "noisy" it was with our occasionally screeching child. And then there was the Cheerios fandango -- I brought along some Cheerios to keep Isaac busy, and, in typical Isaac-fashion, about 3/4 of them ended up on the floor, which then became Cheerio-dust as we moved around him. We also got excited about pancakes. We heard pancakes pass the baby-finger-food test, so we tore off little pieces of our pancakes, and Dad got a great idea to roll them up into little balls so as to be easier for pudgy little fingers to pick up. While some of these found their way into Isaac's gaping maw, most joined their fallen Cheerio brothers on the floor. So the moral to the story: when we eat out, we are now "those people" with the kid -- noisy and excruciatingly messy. Watch out -- we may be coming to a restaurant near you. As long as they have high chairs.