The Incident

So, last weekend we were at our favorite Mexican place, Mi Chulas.  Lately we find ourselves there a lot after Gene's long Saturday morning run.  He is starving hungry and wants lot of carbs.  It is a nice family outing and combination fajitas for two feeds our entire clan - even TyTy now chows down on the beans and rice and indulges in a bit of fajita meat too.  The managers know us as regulars.
I had taken KK to the pool that morning.  As is typical, she did not eat much breakfast before we went.  Then I took her for a slurpee after our pool trip.  Gene was at home recovering from his run and taking care of Tyler.  Then we all got ready and headed out to lunch - by the time we got there it was nearly 1 pm and all Kims were starving, not just the runner.  The restaurant was packed because of tax free shopping weekend.

We were all inhaling the chips and salsa.  Then Katelynn said "Mommy, I feel like I need to cough - but I can't."  Suddenly, vomit was pouring out of her.  I mean POURING out.  To quote my brother's longtime friend Kevin: "It was quite the launch."  At this particular restaurant, they use cloth napkins and keep them stacked in a square bin on the table.  Gene rapidly began unwrapping the napkins and tossing them under Katelynn's faucet mouth.  Every time he would get another napkin down, more would pour out and he would frantically unwrap another.  We went through about 6 nice cloth napkins before it all seemed to be over.  I tried to make a big mountain out of the napkins to hide the situation from our closest table mates.

At this point the manager had taken note and was trying to help.  We were desperately trying to shield all the mess with the napkins so as not to completely offend the entire restaurant.  Luckily it was loud and that seemed to help - if anyone did notice they didn't give it away with a look of disgust - as I surely would have at the sight of another child barfing in a restaurant.  KK's shirt and shorts were covered in it - mostly red/purple from the Slurpee. 

I headed to the one-stall bathroom to clean her up.  (Note to self:  Will carry emergency clothes in the car at ALL times from now on.)  She was grossed out by her barfy shirt and shorts, but all I could do was rinse them out a little and make her put them back on - damp clothing heavily stained with purple puke....lovely.  After a few minutes a woman waiting to pee begain to get impatient and knock rudely on the bathroom door.  Whatdoyouwantmetodolady?!

Finally, I return to the table with a little girl streaked in Slurpee vomit.  Tyler has been screaming his head off at the table the entire time I am gone- HUGE mama's boy. In his fury he knocks over a large glass of tea that had been moved too close to him during the great vomit clean-up. Gene and I are both so frazzled by this point!  I am just trying to get my wits about me, and KK begins begging for steak fajitas.  Try explaining to a starving 4 year old that you really don't want them to eat...

Needless to say I did not enjoy my meal.  I shoved a couple of fajitas down, all the while arguing with Katelynn that she should only eat one tortilla for lunch and wait to see if she was ok.  Turns out she was - but mommy and daddy are scarred for life.  If you ever want to see Gene or me recoil in horror, just mention "The Incident" to us.  No additional description needed.