A CAR SEAT

We Roderick's spend a lot of time in the car. It seemed as if the girls leapt from my uterus right into their car seat. The more births that occurred in the family, the more time we seemed to be in the mini van. Trips to the grandparents were always long and I might add, no DVD players. Gymnastics lessons, piano lessons, ballet lessons, church, grocery runs, etc. etc. etc. When they were little, it seemed as if it was 24/7.

Hope was the one who took ownership of her car seat in a very deliberate style. She was probably under a year old when this behavior manifested itself. I would buckle her in and then attend to the other girls. She immediately was on the prowl for one of them to touch her seat. She would swat, squeal, yell, push and do whatever it took to keep them out of her perceived personal space. If they even looked at her, it was on.

The real fun began when Kelsey, Addison and Shae caught on to her power play. It seemed they would tease and torture, Hope would scream and yell, and subsequently, I was sucked into the chaos. I felt like a mother who had lost control of her kids.

But this devious mom had a plan. As the chaos was soaring, I pulled into the county health department. Now this was significant to the older girls because one of the employees was a family friend. We always took the girls to her for their immunization shots.

Kelsey asked me what was happening. I said as I pulled into the parking lot that I had heard there were new shots to help children behave properly. I told them that their behavior was in need of some adjusting so we were going to see if we could try out the new shot.

Suddenly, the teasing and tormenting came to an abrupt stop.