Things people say

Today I walked into a children's "play place" as Ben calls them with my two squirrely children and fantastic Mom. Now, we came late because it was more important to me to get us out than get Kiera to nap right on time, so the place is deserted except for us and one other family. Here I am with Ben running around and having a great time. Sometimes he is using his walker but most of the time he is trying it on his own which is a bit stumbley and tipsy today. Kiera makes "friends" with a girl just about her age and they start up and over a ramp. This ramp is pretty steep (for a one foot tall, seven foot long ramp) and is covered with carpet and we are all wearing socks. To up the challenge, Kiera hands the little girl a maraca. Now that we have the scene-Kiera goes up and over the ramp with just a few grunts of effort. Next comes our new little friend who is finding it difficult to crawl up this carpeted, steep ramp with a maraca in her hand. I have been chatting with the Mama and so I pipe in with "keep trying! You're doing it!" and no sooner are those works out of my mouth than the dad pipes up with "She can't do it.". No it gets worse! He continued to diminish her efforts and even called her dumb for not putting down the toy. He capped it off with "I bet she'll be on the short bus." I had a moment of- open your eyes? Can't you see that there is a family in the room including a special needs child! Who does, in fact, ride the short bus. But that was quickly pushed out of the way by pity. I feel so awful that that sweet, determined, typical little girl had to hear anything other than encouragement from her father. And pity for the louse who would rather bully his own daughter than play with her. It was the saddest moment I have had in a while.