A busy mom.....

I realized yesterday that when I’m busy, I do what ever I can to make the “needy” child happy.
The place was the car, which is where we seem to spend most of our time these days. Avery, Jack and I were on our way to pick up Mason from school. I decided to call one of my dear friends. I never get to talk on the phone anymore because I am constantly having something to do that supersedes the friendly phone call. I thought I might have 20 quiet minutes in the car while VeggieTale tunes kept the other two kids busy.
The first 10 minutes of my drive was smooth. I was able to chit chat as if their were no kids even in my car. Then the car came to a stop in the school pick up line. Jack started yelling to go, as if he didn’t notice the large grey SUV in the way in front of me. He didn’t like the way I answered him and began yelling again about the CD’s above my head. We have a CD case filled with kid-friendly CD’s on the visor of the car. He noticed them and I handed them to him. This was Step 1 of Operation Try to Get the Kid to Stop Screaming. It crosses my mind that a 2 year old holding a stack of CD’s could end up with non-working CD’s at the end…. But I really wanted to talk!
The CD’s lasted another 5 minutes and Mason was still not out of his class yet. Jackson grew impatient. I gave him a bog full of pennies that I had in my car. At this point, anyone reading this might question my parenting. Aren’t pennies chocking hazards? Jackson chocked on a quarter about 6 months ago and since then he has never put things in his mouth that should not be there. He loves counting pennies, so I felt very safe about Step 2 of this operation.
Well Step 2 lasted a few more minutes before he started throwing all the pennies around the van. I gave him a sucker. Step 3. He asked for another, I gave him another. He asked for another, I gave him another. I kept unwrapping and handing him Dum Dums and he kept screaming for another. I kept talking. Mason got in the car and we headed home. I had to cut my conversation short cause I just could not talk through the 2 year old screaming for suckers and the other two yelling in excitement to see each other.
We arrived home 30 minutes after we had left. When I opened the van door to retrieve the 2 year old. I found 6 CD’s and 30 or so pennies thrown around his carseat. I also found 7 suckers clung to his little hand. All of them licked once or twice.
I realized that no matter what I handed that kid he would have kept screaming. He just wanted out of the car because the minute I unbuckled his little body – he stopped screaming.