The minivan has been looking haggardly after some highway time, baby and people wear. It was time to get a wash yesterday. I've gone to the same car wash for probably two decades now. They do a thorough and quick job and it's close to my house and usually on the way to or from errands I'm already doing.
Yesterday was the first time I've gone with babies to get a car cleaned. I pull up into the line and tell the guy I'll need a minute to extract two children. I hope I'm not going to make the people behind me wait, or slow up their process. I'm thinking I can be fairly quick.
I have to get the double stroller out of the trunk. Get the, "go bag" out of the back. Get one baby out of his car seat. One active boy who wants to run around, see this new place and not be constrained in a second seat. Once he's in, I have to get out a little girl who is sweaty and asleep. Try not to wake her up. Recline her seat in the stroller.
At this point, every door save the passenger door is open on the car. Get purse, close one sliding door, pack everything in the stroller, close the trunk, push the stroller around and close the other sliding door. Hope the lady behind me isn't glaring as I stroll off.
Once I get inside I let my son loose and hope he doesn't start pulling stacks of greeting cards off the racks while I pay for the service. No, he's fine, he's discovered the candy vending machine strip in the corner. He's lifting the little flaps to see if there is bubble gum or Boston Baked Beans someone left behind. Ah, he's found a Reeses Piece and shoved it in his mouth faster than I can sprint across the room.
These folks are fast. By the time I've paid, prepared the tip for the guys working in the ninety-two degree weather, put my son back in his chair and gotten the bags pulled together again they honk the horn that my car is ready.
Unload in reverse, holding up the clean car behind me while I get everything back in place. We drive off.
Last night I felt something in my pocket. What is this money doing here? Oh no. I was so flummoxed trying to get everyone in the car I forgot to tip the hard-working guys. I felt terrible. I may go back today and put the tip in their box.
The Big Boy Update: Biking. I decided to try and ride him around on the back of my husband's bike yesterday evening. It was fun. He loved it. We practiced saying words, "Can you say, 'corn'" type of thing as we rode around the neighborhood. I think I'm going to have to get a bike it was so much fun.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Standing here and there. She can pull up on anything. She can pull up on a sheer, slick, tile wall into a standing position now. She only seems to crawl in order to find something else she on which she can pull up. She is always so happy when she's made it up somewhere.
Fitness Update: There's a "Beat Yourself" option to improve from a prior workout. Yesterday I paced myself against a five mile run my neighbor and I did last week. I was able to run it in a little over two minutes faster. I was much more tired. I saw my neighbor later in the day and we agreed we're going to have to push faster. For some reason adding distance doesn't tire me as much as adding speed and removing distance.
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