A letter to those eating at the restaurant with us tonight..

Dear Fellow diners at Pizzeria Uno,

Thank you for making my family's dinner so pleasant tonight. I really enjoyed the stares and the shaking of the heads, and especially the "oh my goodness, what is wrong with that child" remark I overheard. It truly made our dining experience *so* much better.

Yes, I know my son can be a bit overwhelming in restaurants. Yes, I know his crying/whining/screaming at the top of his lungs can be a bit much. Really, I do. But you know what? A lot of times he can't help it. Obviously you can't look at him and think "Oh, that child has sensory issues and might be overwhelmed, therefore he exhibits sensory seeking behavior". You just look at him and think "brat".

Granted, it might our fault for taking him out to dinner in the first place. We must've been crazy, taking him to 2 different stores and then out to dinner. We know now this causes him to get overloaded and start freaking out, but we wanted to be a normal family and do normal things. He wasn't hitting me repeatedly in the arm because he's violent, he was doing it because he needs to touch and feel things to calm himself down. He didn't throw his food across the booth because he was bored, he did it because he didn't like the texture of the chicken nugget.

So yes, he finally calmed down once he felt more comfortable there. I sincerely apologize for the screaming and throwing and whatnot. If the chicken nugget landed anywhere near you -- I'm sorry. But maybe next time instead of automatically shaking your head disapprovingly, why don't you stop and think that maybe there's a reason for the child acting like that, and not automatically label him a brat.

Thank you so much,
Peyton's Mom