Afternoon Road Trip

The other day, the little boy woke up from his nap a little cranky. I got the usual smiles when I walked in his room to get him, but he then proceeded to say "No" to everything I asked.

"Can I change your diaper?", "Do you want a snack?", "Do you want to go in your swing?"...everything I tried was met with a whiny "No", and he kept pointing his arms outside. More specifically, towards the car. He got more and more frustrated with my countless suggestions and questions. I finally asked, "Do you want to go for a ride in the car?", and he almost jumped out of my arms with joy. He smiled and exclaimed "Yes!", as if to say, "You finally got it right!".

Now I knew that what he really wanted was to go to the farm with the petting zoo as we had done the day before. As he pointed to the car, he was also saying "animals", "goats", "pigs". And of course, "ice cream", which we had enjoyed the previous day as well. I wasn't planning on going to the farm, but I was hopeful that a ride in the car would be enough of a distraction. His memory is getting better and better every day, though. So I started the car with my fingers crossed...

I gave him a bowl of sliced pear and a cup of water. I turned on the radio just as a Brandenburg Concerto was starting. The Brandenburg Concertos are my favorite classical pieces of all time, and my mindset suddenly changed. Maybe a car ride was a nice idea. The little boy sat happily in his car seat, eating his pears and pointing out all the trucks we passed. I sat happily in the front seat, driving leisurely through neighborhoods while humming along to the music.

Fifteen minutes later, as the music was ending, we pulled back into our driveway. "Daddy's car!", he exclaimed. I asked him if he wanted to go say hi to Daddy, and mercifully, the answer was "Yeah!".