Dear Grocery Store Shoppers,
I must apologize that my screaming 2 month old son disturbed your shopping experience. No, I didn't do anything to make him scream. Yes, I fed him before we came. No, he's not mad. At 2 months old, he doesn't know what mad is. Staring, laughing, pointedly turning your back, making faces, and looking at me like you expect me to explode in anger/humiliation/ whatever are not helpful reactions. I would prefer that you simply ignore me and my crying son.
At 2.5 months old, my son cries whenever he is uncomfortable because that is what babies do. They don't have any other way to express themselves besides crying. Sometimes, he cries just because. When he cries in public, I do my best to hurry out of the store so as not to disturb others. However, with a cart full of groceries, hurrying through checkout is an oxymoron. I do the best I can.
I appreciate the store employee who helped me remove my items from the cart so we could get finished faster, bagged them quickly, and then helped me out to the car. This is why I shop at Publix. I do not appreciate the people in line behind me making faces and turning their backs as if we had the plague. If you don't want to hear my baby cry, go stand in another line. It's not like I'm lollygagging around and just letting him scream.
And by all means, if you have some fullproof way to soothe a screaming baby, let's hear it.
(And the funny thing, he stopped crying as soon as we got out of the store...from exhaustion, maybe.)
