Life in the Car Pickup Line

Two days of the week, I get Charlie off the bus and immediately head over to the girls' school to pick them up from their afterschool enrichment program. Because his bus arrival at my campus can arrive anywhere within a twenty minute window, there are days where we make it by the skin of our teeth and there are days where we arrive with quite a bit of time to spare.

I've tried a few things on those early days. It's never quite enough time to run an errand or make a stop anywhere, but too long to just sit there. One day with twenty minutes to spare I tried letting him play on the playground at their school, but it ended disastrously. First, we'd gotten halfway back to the car before realizing that he'd left his socks under the slide. We went back for his socks and I told him to take off his shoes and put them back on. He did it with a little more flare than I'd intended, chucking his shoes over the fence. After retrieving his shoes, he refused to walk and crawled like a cat through the weeds. When I tried to pick him up to carry him, he shrieked like a child being kidnapped.

Needless to say we were late to pick up the girls that day. You might also, rightly, assume that this option was never given again.

Today Melody stayed home sick, so I had two bored children in the back of my hot PennyVann as we awaited the emergence of the Dixie from the school. The entire drive, wait and drive home were spent in deep analytical discussion of a subject dear to Charlie's heart: PopTarts.

We discussed every size, flavor and temperature preference. We discussed favorite locations and days for PopTart consumption. Eating techniques were dissected--do you crumble around the edges first, start in a corner or just chomp into the end? Is it better to eat it frosting side up? Included in this analysis was a detailed explanation of Evan's PopTart preferences. (Evan is Charlie's school friend.)

It was excruciating.

By the end of it, I learned that Tuesday and Wednesday are my PopTart days, but only if there are blueberry or cherry available for me to eat cold in the mornings in the PennyVann on the way to school. Any other PopTart eating variance is unacceptable. The girls had slightly more permissible options and Charlie's PopTart consumption was given complete free range.

I thought you might like to know.