in honor of max’s 9th birthday today, i’ll share this awkward public space parenting moment from the other day. it was a bad one — but not my worst. i’ll share that one another day.

so, the other day, we were at target as a family, doing a bit o’ errand shopping. max was in a cranky mood. so was liesl. actually, we all were. i suppose shopping at target on thanksgiving weekend can do that to a family. when we finally got to the check out line, max and i were exchanging tense words — not yelling or anything like that; just him complaining and me complaining back.

the clerk was eyeing us suspiciously, not saying anything as she swiped our stuff. and as i was lifting a small bag that only had a flat-sided cardboard box in it (nothing heavy or pointy), i accidentally brushed it against max’s face on it’s way to the cart (really, nothing intended, and it wasn’t hard).

max yells out, “AH! you hit me and knocked my tooth out!”

of course i thought he was kidding, and made some kind of a “oh, come on” comment. but he proceeded to spit a tooth into his hand.

the clerk was aghast. i think she was trying to decide whether to call security or child protection services.

max thought the whole thing was hilarious, and, for the rest of the day would say, in other public places, “dad punched me in the face and knocked my tooth out!”