Backseat Driver

Until recently, Jim and I carpooled to work. Since we usually go places as a family or one of us stays home while the other goes out, Sera has gotten used to daddy being the driver in the family.

Yesterday, I picked her up from school, and we went to run some errands. I needed to stop by the bank and grocery store to get a bell pepper and some onions to finish dinner. I told Sera that if she was a good girl in the store, we'd go to the toy section. She has that $10 she received the other day. Any money she's received in the past, she's put into her piggy bank. Now that she's getting the concept of buying things, we decided to let her spend this money.

I'm driving down the road after leaving the bank when Sera tells me, "No, Daddy do it this way." She has her hands up in the air and she's moving them like she's steering a car. I move my hands up to to the 10 & 2 position, and she announces, "that's better." It made me laugh, but I didn't really think more of it at the time.

We pick up the few things I need in the store and head over to the toy section. We went down every aisle twice while she considered what to buy. She finally narrowed it down to two items. I had wanted her to pick out a play-doh activity set, but the selection stunk. Her first choice was a princess bag with a blowdryer, flat iron, curling iron, comb, and brush. Since she's never seen a flat or curling iron used and her hair has only been blowdried once after a haircut, I wasn't sure she really understood what it was for. I asked her what she wanted to do with that toy. She told me she wanted to use it to comb my hair. She's really gotten into combing my hair lately. Since we have the tools, a comb and brush, to do that job, I didn't want her to use her money on that. Instead I encouraged her second choice, a dress-up set. She was torn between Snow White and Cinderella, but Cinderelly won out in the end. In the car, she pulled the box out of the bag and held it on her lap. At home, she could barely wait until I took it out of the packaging before putting on her new outfit. That tiara stayed on her head until it was time to wash her hair. She even wanted to wear it to school this morning, but I convinced her to leave it at home.

Oh, and one more thing, as I went to back out of the parking spot at the store, I was informed that I didn't have my right hand in the right place when looking out the back window. I knew there would come a day when Sera would start telling me how to drive. Somehow I thought the day would be further away.