DS2 has been more oppositional than usual lately. Having been through the 3s twice before, I'm fairly confident that this just part of being 3. Everything pisses him off. He wants to control everyone, and if you don't ask "How high?" when he says, "Jump!" he starts carrying on (crying, screaming, threatening) as if it's (dunh-dunh-DUNH!!!) The End of the World. During these times, you just have to hold fast to the knowledge that he won't be 3 forever.
Both DD and DS2 weigh about 35 lbs (um, yeah, she'll be 6 shortly, and he's 3 and a half -- I know, I know) and they both use booster seats with backs in the car. For some reason DS2 was getting all possessive about his car seat, so I told him, "Well, there's no reason you can't sit in [DD]'s car seat, they're the same thing, really." So, predictably, today: "I want to sit in her carseat!"
I do believe this request had multiple motivations. First, he really does want to sit in his sister's carseat, simply because it's hers. Then there's the testing aspect: I had told him there was no reason he couldn't, was that really true? Last, there was the "irritate Mom with special requests when we're trying to get out the door" aspect to it: he likes to pique me, sometimes. I admit, I'm piquable. All my kids know it and try and tweak me from time to time. I am so very bad I have actually said to them, "You know, this is really pissing me off," when they are doing just that... at which point they know they had better knock it off. If I believe he asked only to pique me, I probably would've said "no" on principal. But I could see that he really did want to see how the other half rides.
I had to force myself to say "yes."
This seems so picayune, but I have to admit to my own maternal stinginess. Normally DS2 sits behind me. Since I have to do his seatbelt, it saves me from having to open doors on both sides of the van when we're the only ones around, which is at least half the trips I make. It doesn't really matter where he sits if DD is with us, because I have to do her seatbelt, too. But it really is a very tiny bit of extra work for me to have him sit on the passenger side. You know, just the kind of thing that the Efficiency Expert in me would like to ruthlessly stamp out: sit the kid behind you, make fewer trips around the car getting ready to go.
But I couldn't just say No because I'm lazy! Seriously, it takes less than 30 extra seconds. I don't want to do it. But I do it anyway, because on days like these days, it is easier to give in on something so trivial than to provoke a huge disappointment-fueled hissy-fit.
DS2 is enchanted with the view from the passenger side. I'm probably stuck with this for a good while, now, but as long as I can keep the Efficiency Expert chained up in my psychological basement, everything will be just fine.
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