Hayden and Me

Hayden and I went to the mall on Saturday while Melissa went to Madison for Scott and Laura's second shower. She took Donovan with her. We flipped a coin to see which baby would stay with me. Hayden lost. We then flipped the coin to determine whether "Heads": Hayden stays in the front yard, alone; or "Tails": Hayden gets watched by Kyle. Since Heads or Tails might result in the same outcome, we figured we would leave Hayden's demise to a coin toss. Much to Hayden's dismay, the coin landed on Tails. So Melissa left with Donovan.

Thinking of nothing better to do, Hayden and I headed out to Southridge Mall for some entertainment. We took the red jogging stroller, two bottles in a warm thermos, and some nooks. We entered through Sears, and proceeded into the Mall where we got harassed by some cell phone sales people. At this time, Hayden was sleeping. Yet a cell phone salesperson had the nerve to say, "Sir, Who is your cell phone provider?" I responded, "Hey, can't you see he is sleeping, and he won't answer you since he is sleeping!" The sales clerk was perplexed. We kept walking.

Our first major stop was to Gloria Jeans, because I needed some caffeine. The rest of the mall trip locations are classified, because we were shopping for their mom's birthday present.

While we were JC Penney, Boston Store and other stores such as The Gap and American Eagle, several nice ladies, young and old, stopped me to acknowledge that I was a man with a baby. Several asked inquisitive questions, implying things such as "where is his mother, she must be somewhere nearby?"; "Where is she shopping while you have the baby for a short period of time?"; and "Are you only pushing him because he was fussy, and his mom had enough?" I just told them she wasn't around. They asked where she was at, implying that maybe child services should be called. I said , I don't know where she is at. After they asked why I didn't know, I replied that his mother gave up and left about a month ago, and I have been taking care of him since . . . solo. They proceeded to give me a hug. I then asked if they would buy us lunch. They said no. I asked, well what about some clothes, since there is this really nice Polo button down shirt that I want. They then walked away. I hoped this experience would teach these kind souls to jump into the 21st century and acknowledge that guys can bring babies to the mall (with proper food and diapers) without mom around, and that the baby stands an 84% chance of being alright. I will try bringing both of them to the mall later this week, since I never found Melissa a gift.

After we left the Mall, Hayden and I went to Pick N Save and then to Blockbuster. Hayden stayed in his car seat for these trips and I just carried him around the store. All in all, we were out and about for about four and a half hours, and we did just fine. We then watched a movie, made lunch, and then we watched Victoria Beckham and the LA Galaxy get destroyed by Chelsea.