What was I thinking? Why? Why? Why? That pretty much summarizes yesterday.
I made an appointment to have the oil changed and the car cleaned and shampooed yesterday. Ken goes to French class downtown so he needs only take one bus instead of the three it would take to make the 20 minute car trip to his office. Unfortunately, I had to clean out the toys, books, clothes, food, potty and general stuff that rides around in our car first. That stuff is just inside the house right now but that’s another story. When I got to the garage, I had to take Reid’s car seat out. All along, I thought she was eating the Nutrios that we give her some mornings. Not so! It seems she has been putting them under her car seat. Since the car was in the shop already, I had to leave the mounds of o’s where they were. It added to the embarassment, I guess, but since the car is generally a mess I can’t blame Reid too much.
When I picked the car up, the nice woman at the desk tried to help me get the car seat back in but she just wasn’t strong enough. One of the fellows came over and he pulled on the seatbelt while I kneeled in the seat and pushed against the ceiling with my back. With a good amount of effort, we got it back in securely. They even shampooed her seat. Fabulous service! They recommended leaving the windows down over night and let me go.
It was hard to let Reid into the shiny clean car at daycare; heck, it was hard to let *me* get in ;+)
At a certain point, Ken reminded me that swimming lessons started again on Wednesday night. I’m not sure I said, “no problem,” but I think I thought it. Kinda dumb. I am bad at thinking spatially and about time. Fortunately, I had gathered our bathing suits and so Ken was able to get them, our towels and Reid’s pj’s into a bag while I drove home. We had time to pick him up. He brought some lunchmeat and a Babybel cheese for Reid to eat on the way to swimming. Yes, eat. In our clean car!
Reid was so happy to be in the pool! (We didn’t get to the pool last weekend.) She chattered and giggled and grinned and more or less followed the instructions that Emily, our new teacher, gave. She wasn’t keen on Emily dumping a bucket of water over her head, though and so Emily didn’t. After class, Ken said that he thought she made the most logical decisions because, really, what person wants a bucket of water on their head? Reid jumped into the pool – a first at class. She uses so many words in just the right way – “Come closer, Mama,” she’d say, having worked out that she wanted to end up in the water with her arms around my neck. That’s so much easier to figure out than “Mama” which might also have meant, “you’re insane if you think I’m jumping” or even just “I’m afraid”. Kids who talk are pretty cool.
We got home and I gobbled a sandwich while Reid ate some crackers and hummous and then it was time for bed. Poor Ken had to eat alone and amuse himself for the evening as I just couldn’t wake up once Reid was asleep. I almost made it but she roused when I put her in her bed – we’d both fallen asleep in the rocking chair – and once I lay down with her, I was finished.
We survived a Whirlwind Wednesday but I think I won’t ever schedule a car appointment on Wednesday again. I will also make sure to have our swim bag packed and by the door. Ask me next week if I followed through. :+)