Things people say to people with babies

Having a baby with you in public seems to be the equivalent of wearing a sign that says: "Tell me what you think."

Here are a few recent favorites:

(from an older hispanic woman in the grocery store)
"Be careful - there are a lot of baby stealers out there!" and in the next breath: "This boy will be president of the United States someday!"

(from an older African American on the bus who was eating a huge sticky cinnamon bun with both hands)
"Hold him all the time. You can't spoil them when they're so little." And a little later. "Do you have a napkin?" [I produce one for him.] "I knew you would!"

(from a 30-something professionally dressed woman with short blond curly hair with a distraught look on her face, at about 3pm)
"If you're taking BART today - DON'T! They said they're announcing the verdict by 4:30pm today." (She then ran down the BART station steps. Apparently she was not the only one with this idea.)

People I don't know now suddenly know my name: Mom. As in: "Hey Mom! Are you a registered voter in San Francisco?"

But you know what? As annoying as this can be, when I am out without Emerson, I look around at everyone around me and think to myself "No one here knows that I have a baby." Which kind of makes me want to have a sign that says that I do.