Since Jan of 2003 I have never driven more then 35 minutes by myself. In case you have never had the pleasure (torture) of riding in the car with us, my children hate the car. Until Gabrielle was ill and we had to move closer to town, we lived 35 miles from one town and 20 miles from another. In rural Colorado, 35 miles is usually 35 minutes. I drove to town myself once a week until Madeline was 18 months old. It was a huge drawn out production when she was a baby of nursing her to sleep in the car seat in the car, jumping up front, and driving like a bat out of hell to town hoping to get mostly there before she woke up. I'd run errands while she screamed from stop to stop, and then then when I'd finally get her back to sleep, I'd make the drive back home. I also spent many, many hours pulled over on the side of the highway trying to get home. Madeline wouldn't just cry herself to sleep but scream and scream, vomit, and continue screaming, the child never tired of screaming. Once she hit 18 months of age, I was able to distract her with toys. I had an huge backpack of toys on the front seat and would spent the entire drive handing them back one by one. Even today at 5.5 years of age, Madeline does not like the car. In order to get more then 20 minutes without her turning into a whiny, obnoxious child, a DVD player is a must.
You can imagine my utter dismay when I gave birth to a second car seat hater. I am starting to believe that it is a complete myth that any child actually likes riding in the car. Gabrielle is much better then Madeline ever was though. Madeline always hated the aspect of being strapped in, she hated slings, strollers, basically anything that contained her. Gabrielle can be entertained on short trips without nursing the entire way which is what I always did with Madeline when someone else drove, but she still doesn't like the car seat. Her max limit is one hour in the car, then we need a good break, and one hour is pulling everything out that i can possibly think of, like singing row your boat ten thousand times. I should also mention that I never get to sit up front like a real adult, I am always in the back with the children, it is the reason I own a minivan actually.
So this weekend I drove 80 miles by myself with two children, and lived to tell the tale! We were supposed to drive up to my parent's house in the mountains and spent a night or two, only Ryan ended up having to work, I'm tired of never getting to go anywhere so I decided to try it. We left before 7am, I only had to stop 4 times, which wasn't bad. My secret was that both children got their very own DVD player. Yep, I put my 22 month old in front of a TV in order to drive. Gabrielle LOVES trains, loves them. The train passes through town a few times a day and we often see one, she always likes to carry toy trains around. Friday night I ran out and bought a Thomas movie. It was a hit. So much in fact that now every time she sees a TV, she screams and crys for "dee do" which is what she calls trains. She screamed for house this afternoon because I refused to let her watch Thomas, sigh. I finally got to drive somewhere but was it really worth it?!
No comments:
Post a Comment