Car Trouble

This morning, we were running late to drop Julia off at school, despite the fact that she was desperate with excitement to get there. Today being "Pajama Day," Julia was eagerly anticipating the chance to wear her pjs and slippers to school, play with flashlights in the dark, eat pancakes for snack, and all the other fun things her school offers on Pajama Day. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get out the door on time, so we started off being five minutes behind schedule getting to school. Then, to top things off, I had to try and get our new car out of the garage for the first time. I know it sounds like a no-brainer, but getting a car into and out of our garage is particularly challenging. Our driveway curves to the right, so that we are forced to park at an angle, tilted right; not SO far to the right that we have to drive over the stoop outside of our side-door entrance, but to the right ENOUGH that we allow our condo neighbor ample room to park to the left of us. Furthermore, our garage is a straight shot forward from the non-curved part of our driveway, so getting in and out requires us to veer the car around our stoop, then quickly straighten out in order to pull into the garage (and vice versa.)



Now, with our old Toyota Corolla, I had the whole process down, and was able to navigate my way in and out relatively easily. And, let's be honest, the car was a 2001, so if I accidentally rolled over the stoop on my way out, it wasn't the end of the world. However, because our Kia is brand new, I wanted to try and avoid hitting either the stoop or the walls of the garage. Unfortunately, because I had never done it before, I was completely unused to the parameters with our new, differently shaped car, and I had an enormous amount of trouble getting the angle right. Backing straight out of the garage, I didn't quite have enough room to start curving around the stoop, and instead was in danger of driving right into it. So I went back and forth, turning to the right and forward, then to the left and backwards, occasionally pulling back into the garage to try and start all over again and get the initial back-out angle better.

The kids had no patience for my shenanigans.

JULIA: Come OOOOONNNN, Mom! We're gonna be late!
MADELEINE: Mommy, OH NO, the car is STUCK! Mommy, can you just drive?

And, of course, they were full of suggestions for how I could be doing things better.

ME: (turning the wheel to the right and pulling forward to try and get at a better angle for backing around the stoop)
MADELEINE: No Mommy! Not THAT way! Mommy! You need to go THAT way! (pointing behind us.)

By this point, we were a full ten minutes behind schedule, meaning we were actually five minutes late for school. Still, I continued on like a buffoon, trying to figure out how to get the car out as if I were at my first day of drivers ed. Finally, Julia threw her hands up in exasperation. "Mommy! We're NEVER going to get to school if you keep driving like this!" she lamented.

So, over the stoop I went. It wasn't pretty, but at least it allowed us to get out of the driveway, and to get Julia to school a mere 12 minutes late.

Back at home, Madeleine's day has progressed much as did yesterday. She has done some ridiculously controlled, in-the-lines coloring:



And she tried out raspberries again. They were still not a great hit, although she enjoyed sticking her finger in the hole again and saying "Boop!" just as we did yesterday.

MADELEINE: Boop! Mommy, I did "BOOP!" Mommy, it's just very really so funny.

While she wasn't so scared of the hole today, she still did not seem to particularly like the taste of the raspberries. In fact, as she colored, she openly spit out a chewed-up raspberry, paid no mind to it, and continued coloring with the spit out red goo right next to her coloring book.

ME: Ew, Madeleine, what is that?
MADELEINE: It's just my raspberry. I just SPIT it out.
ME: Yuck, honey, we no-no spit out our food. You need to eat it.
MADELEINE: Mom, can you color with me?
ME: No, sweetheart, I'm going to go make my lunch now.
MADELEINE: Yeah, Mommy, you just need to go spit out your raspberries.

It's the new way of eating, everyone! No need to diet! Just chew up your food to get that delicious taste, then spit out the mush and leave it on the floor for your mom to clean up. Come on, everybody's doing it!