We went to a party on Saturday night - myself, HDH and HDToddler (who was on the end of sick streak, temps of 103, a nasty cough, diarrhea and all around feeling like crap). It was a nice little family/friends party with an assload of people. I am impressed they fit us all in their albeit lovely home.

Other than the expected chaos (which would be HDToddler throwing himself onto the floor, in the middle of the kitchen because - as near as I can figure - the sky wasn't blue enough), there was a family that completely puzzled me.

Dad, Mom, and three or four kids. All of the children had some sort of disability, so I'm thinking that these are nice adoptive parents - maybe even foster parents? I find myself in the kitchen next to the Mother, and she was as friendly as a rattlesnake. Nasty woman. Her daughter comes running over with pom-pom's she had found, and announced she was a cheerleader. I got down with my son and said, "You make a great cheerleader! I bet you can dance, too!" and her mom snatched her up, told her to put the pom-pom's away. They proceeded then to sit in the corner for a while.

Later, I notice a bee flying in the kitchen. It has obviously hijacked a ride with the beautiful flowers someone has given the hostess. The bee is hanging out on the flowers, loving life. I see about 50,000 kids running around, and one in particular is by the arrangement with his dad. I whisper to the dad that there is a bee in the flowers, so he leans down to his son (whose back is facing us) and says, "Hey, Timmy, wanna try and catch the bee?".

The kid FREAKS!! He turns around, tosses his plate up in the air and runs. I then see the kid has Down's. His idiot dad looks at me and says, very matter-of-fact, "Yeah, he really has trouble with bees". SO THEN WHY IN THE GOD'S NAME DID YOU TELL HIM THERE WAS A BEE NEARBY!?!?

An hour into the evening, we find ourselves in the little area where the Mom is and two of her girls, plus the little Bee Boy I mentioned earlier. Someone has let the dog in. It's a ridiculously happy dog that wants to lick, but primarily, wants any leftover's on the floor.

The little Cheerleader Girl is SCARED of dogs, but this dog in general. She hides behind her Mom. We start ushering the Happy Dog back outside. This is a futile effort as someone will go back outside to see the koi pond or the keg or whatever the hell is in the back yard, and the dog will come right back in. It's the nature of things.

Regardless, the little Bee Boy has just jumped up into his chair, and oh-so-happy with a new can of Sprite. His mom says, "PUT THAT DOWN! WE'RE LEAVING!"

Immediately, everyone starts saying, "Don't go, we'll keep the dog out" ... but she insists. She moves that family out in absolutely 10 seconds flat. The kids looked totally crestfallen.

What puzzles me is this:

HDH saw this as them hating the dog and being mad that the dog was even around.

I saw this as a mom who was irritated with her child for being afraid of dogs.

Who knows.

But what I do know is that in the end, the bee and the dog were still in the house, my kid was flinging himself onto the floor and into the chocolate fountain. Full on hands in the fountain. I wish I'd had my camera for that one ...