Going into public- is it overrated?

This summer big guy has embraced his toddlerness. I'm sure he has lots more tricks up his little sleeves for the future, but I have seen quite a bit already. Probably the most overt wackiness has been big guy's sudden inability to eat in restaurants like a civilized toddler. And you may ask- what? your child isn't a total angel all the time? Sadly no, not anymore...

It all started in June when we went out to eat for grandma D's bday. We went to a local Jewish deli- I thought big guy would be thrilled. A pickle bar, a full deli, lots of people, grouchy old Jewish waitresses... No dice. The kid freaked! He wouldn't sit still. He didn't want to eat. He wanted to throw everything on the floor. So I thought, ok, maybe it's just not his day. The next day we went to the Moshulu- it's a restaurant on a boat- what could be more fabulous? Um, running around like a crazy person. Putting every dirty thing he could find in his mouth. Screaming when I wanted him to sit and eat. Oy vey!

Hubs and I discussed it and decided we shouldn't eat out for a while. We inevitably arrived at a time when we had no thoughts for dinner. We went to our local pizza place- which big guy loves- and Finding Nemo was on in the kid's section. He ate great. Hmmm. Our local burrito place- he ate like a champ! We thought we were past it until we went to the Ruby's diner and he super freaked- he threw all the sugar/sweetnlow packets on the floor. He likes to "clean the desks" which is swiping the table clean. Dear lord- we are a tornado!

So, we are back to only eating pizza and burritos when we have a hankerin' for not home cooking. But I wonder how long we will be shunned from the outside world? I spoke to my sis-in-law (Aunt K) about it and she said that there was a year where they couldn't eat in public. Yikes! The only partial solution I have found is to bring his booster seat from home to eat on- big guy seems to like it better than restaurant high chairs. Looks like I will be cooking a lot this upcoming year- much better than averting my eyes from grumpy waitresses as they watch the destruction happening! I wonder how much spit I've eaten recently...