Beyond embarrassed

I decided to take the kids to the mall playground today.  They had been couped up all week and I know they needed to burn some energy.  I met up with Jen since we hadn't seen each other in over a week and it was nice to have lunch and catch up.  We ate first and then walked to the play area.  Almost immediately, Tristan started getting naughty.  He was screaming and yelling and running up the slide and he wouldn't listen to me when I would call him.  I pulled him aside and talked to him about how to behave and then let him loose again.  Reagan made a new friend right away, so they were playing together.  I guess since they bonded so quickly, Tristan assumed we knew this little girl and just started playing really rough with her...not mean, but rough.  Obviously she didn't like some random kid touching her and yelling at her.  So I pulled him aside again and "had a talk."  He apologized and then ran off and tackled her.  I pulled him off of her and put him in time out for a sec and talked to him some more explaining further that even though I know he was just playing, we couldn't play like that at the mall.  I told him no tackling or wrestling.  So I let him go again (I must add that he wasn't trying to be mean, he just didn't seem to get that you can't play that way with strangers at the mall.  It's only appropriate at home or with friends we know).  Anyway, next thing you know, he's spitting at this girl...again, not mean, but still inappropriate.  Anyone who knows Tristan knows he's a sweetie, but definitely all boy.  I apologized to the girls' mother and this time I put him in time out.  I was already annoyed and embarrassed that I kept having to tell him to stop even though they were all different offenses.  It just wasn't appropriate play for the mall.  So he pitched a fit and squirmed while I held him for time out.  I talked to him about his behavior and he calmed down and agreed to behave.  When I let him go play again, I told him that we were going to leave if I had to tell him to stop again.  A couple of times he would grab the little girl around the waste and I would just say his name and he would let go.  Almost like he couldn't help himself, that's just how he plays.  All these moms kept looking at him like he was the devil and then looking at me like I was some horrible mother who couldn't control her child.  It was AWFUL and I just wanted to leave and pretend he wasn't mine.  He was being better and then suddenly he just stepped on some little girl's fingers.  I looked up and the mom had him by the hand and was talking to him about not to step on fingers.  That was it.  He has NEVER been mean to a baby before.  He is always super gentle with them even though he has no concept of personal space, but he is after all only 2.  I could not believe he had done that and I was beyond embarrassed.  Plus it was a friend of Jen's.  I grabbed him and we left.  I just wanted to beat his butt right there in the mall, but I calmly waited until we got home.  I also cut his paci.  Maybe too extreme, but I'm sick of the things anyway, so maybe it can be a discipline if he can't behave he either loses a paci or it gets cut.  Then, I put him to bed.  I see lots of bad kids at the mall playground.  I have given "that look" to moms and kids, usually because the mom isn't even watching the child and is oblivious to the fact that he/she is tormenting the other children.  My children have been tackled and pushed and pinched and kicked by those kids.  It's annoying!  I just never thought my child would be that kid and I certainly did not enjoy being the recipient of "that look" today.

UPDATE: So cutting the paci was extreme.  I feel so bad about doing that.  T woke up from his nap crying and saying, "you broke my paci."  :o(  I'm such a mean mom.