Starbucks & Sam

I hear that things happen in threes and in my experience it is often true.  I had two baby related Starbucks experiences lately, and was waiting for the third, which happened today.

Starbucks 1:  Sam & I went to a drop-in playgroup.  The time had apparently changed from 3:30 to 4:30,  which I found out upon arrival.  I figured we’d hit Starbucks in the meantime and see how he held up.  I got a coffee and a bagel and sat down at a cramped window seat so that we could eat and watch the pedestrians and street traffic.  We were having a great time, Sam on my lap, as we munched and looked at cars.  Sam was well behaved and didn't even try to grab my coffee.  The table next to us was quickly filled by two women who looked like they were working on a real estate transaction.  They were about an arm's length away from us engaged in conversation, paperwork spread out.   I was juggling baby, coffee, and trying to maintain the mess, thinking about days when I could have easily passed an hour or two relaxing at Starbucks.  Suddenly, Sam stopped chewing and sneezed.  I didn't have time to react, as chunks of bagel spattered the women next to us and their paperwork, while one woman literally jumped.  I was mortified and could only apologize and hurriedly hand them my stack of napkins as I hastily started gathering up our things.  

Starbucks 2:  Cleanliness or lack of.  I met my friend and her daughter in Starbucks recently.  She pulled out antibacterial wipes and cleaned off the table before her four year old tidily ate her pastry off of a napkin.  Meanwhile, Sam, who was on my lap, quickly overturned his container of blueberries and puff cereal and ate them off the table surface (at least it had been cleaned).  After squirming out of my lap, Sam proceeded to play at my feet, until I looked down and found him munching on something from the floor (hopefully a piece of dropped cereal).  Either my friend didn't see or was too polite to mention it.  I pulled him back onto my lap where he babbled, asking periodically, "what's that?" and pointing to various objects.  Eventually I noticed he had become quiet and still.  I shifted him on my lap to find that he had sucked on three of his puffs and stuck them to the coffee shop wall.  I discretely removed his artwork with my napkin and put him back on the floor.  He then promptly  located a discarded coffee stirrer which of course, went directly in his mouth.  I gave up.  

Starbucks 3:  I have the week of from work, so every morning, Sam and I have been going to "see the buses" (one of his favorite activities) in Davis Square, where I get a coffee.  Today I really didn't want to go directly home, and it was drizzling, so I removed him from the stroller and let him wander around in Starbucks.  He was making circles around my chair, investigating the stroller wheels, and content.  This Starbucks usually draws a lot of college students working on papers and projects, or professionals who set up their laptops.  To minimize disturbing them, I choose a seat further away, closer to the noise of the espresso machine.  This was a good idea, except that I hadn't taken into account the patrons picking up their coffee orders.  I intervened twice before he tripped a people.  Just as I was gathering up our things to leave, he decided to drive the stroller. He hurtled directly into a poor, unsuspecting customer.  

Sam & I may stick to drive-thru coffee stores for a while, or more economically, the Keurig.