The Pit Stop

This afternoon, as we were loading up the car to drive home from our brief trip to Albuquerque, Tessie fell apart.  It began with Nick asking her to help pick some of her toys, and her refusing.  He offered to help and she still wouldn’t lift a finger.  Finally he threatened to leave behind a new fairy book my mom had given her, and still she wouldn’t budge from her no-picking-up platform.  Well the problem with threats is that you have to follow through or you risk teaching your children that there will be no consequences for their actions.

So of course we had to leave the fairy book behind.  This resulted in screaming like you wouldn’t believe.  She would not calm down.  When Tessie gets upset she really pumps up the drama.  She screamed into the car and refused to say goodbye to my poor mother, who was obviously distraught over this tearful ending to her visit with the kids. 

It finally quieted down in the car as we pulled away, and after stopping for lunch, the kids eventually fell asleep.  Nick suggested we take a scenic route home.  At first I was opposed but decided it might be nice, so we headed up the “high road” to Taos.  As we were climbing in elevation both kids woke up, in very grumpy moods.  We pulled over and got them out of the car.

We walked into the forrest, I carried Christian snuggled close and Tessie followed Nick, chatting as she walked.  She found pine cones and pointed out cool sticks.  Christian seemed to just be taking in the trees and the floor of needles.  I walked back to the car with happy kids, grateful that Nick had saved the day with our beautiful pit-stop.