Driving in the Car

Rides in the car with Aidan have always been interesting. The very first ride in the car was the 15 minutes he screamed at the top of his lungs on the way home from the hospital. Then there were the many trips around town for the first year. I dreaded each time I had to get out with him because he'd scream pretty much non-stop. There was the first road trip to Owensboro when he cried for 2 1/2 hours straight. Then there was the 5 hours of screaming on the way to Ohio for Jereme and Jody's wedding. Ah, yes, I still have PTSD from all the screaming that first year, much of it in the car. Perhaps this is why I'm not interested in more children, but I digress.

The day that we installed the TV/VCR combo that Rebecca passed along to us was the happiest day of my driving life. Giving him something to watch seemed to (mostly) fix his problems, whatever those were. Over time he's become a pretty good rider in general, and these days we often have interesting conversations in the car.

This morning it was all about how I needed to work at home today. He told me that I shouldn't go to work today, that I should work at home after taking him to school. When I asked him why he said, "We need money to go to Chuck E. Cheese." I figured it was too difficult to explain to him that Mommy isn't making money right now, so I just nodded and decided that at least he's understanding that money is a store of work. I assume Jason has been telling him these things since that's one of Jason's catch phrases.

Overall, I'm grateful today that Aidan is pretty well adjusted. We saw a child at Aidan's school this morning who was extremely upset. He was screaming, running, and acting out in a peculiar way. When I asked if he was OK I got a little more information than I needed. From the description, it sounded like this child has been a lot like Aidan was in the first year. Screaming non-stop. Whatever we did to help Aidan seems to have worked. Honestly, I think it was the Attachment Parenting philosophy that we adopted. I called Jason on my way to work to let him know that Aidan could have been that 4-year-old if we'd not helped him adjust in every way that we knew how. And, honestly, I cannot imagine how those parents have done it for 4 years!