We recently took a long trip in our car (more on that later) and it was the longest that G has ever been in the car in his entire life. I was worried it might not go well, of course. When you’re that young it’s easy to not be hyperbolic when you say something is the worst thing you’ve ever experienced. It literally could be. And it would be easy to see how being trapped in a car for a long period of time, when it had never happened before, being one of those times.
I find that remembering that helps me be a lot more patient and empathetic when these moments happen. Sure, it might not be a big deal to me, but that’s because I’ve been there, done that. I have past experiences to pull from to know that things get better and easier.
So when planning for this trip, I expected that things might go horribly. It wouldn’t be the first time we’ve driven somewhere with a baby screaming in the back seat the entire time. I planned lots of contingencies - toys, snacks, I even downloaded some of our favorite Sesame Street songs.
However, I forgot that G already had the best distraction ever in the back seat with him: A sibling!
Before we left, I pushed their seats together and they entertained themselves almost the entire way there. It was amazing. They played and giggled and tickled each other. They were happy and having fun. It was amazing, and Tom and I kept talking about how cool it was to watch and listen to. It also illustrates how quickly we seem to be getting out of survival mode. We even stopped at one point to run around and have some fun.
It’s not to say that we didn’t have our moments on the trip. There were a few meltdowns, tears, and pleads from G to be “all done!” but not nearly as many as I predicted. I can feel my mind opening up about the possibilities of future trips we could take as a family.
Hands down, though, the best part of the trip was when G noticed that E had fallen asleep at one point. He started by getting our attention. “Uh oh! Uh oh! UH OH!!” He was pointing at his brother and desperately trying to get our attention. We we told him that yes, we know, and it’s okay - E was just a bit tired and fell asleep. He then switch to laughing hysterically and continuing to point at his brother. He couldn’t get over how funny it was that E had fallen asleep.
Luckily, he has a super nice brother who did not return the favor later when G fell asleep.
