Tardy Passes and Pancakes

Day 2:
Our first morning getting out the door to drive Kitten to school.  Normally, the boys (Super H and Jackalope) stay home with Dad before he has to leave for work but today I need to pile everyone into the car for the five minute drive to school.  Okay, I can do this.

Where's your backpack Kitten?  What's this permission slip?  Where's the pens to sign permission slip?  Okay, a blue marker works - done!  Go get dressed and brush your teeth.

Having dressed himself in tshirts, shorts, and snow boots (it's 80 degrees already but hey, we have got to book it out the door), Super H roots through the pantry for a granola bar while Jackalope brings me a clean diaper and yells "POOP!" at me as I pack strawberries and a cheese stick for Kitten's morning snack.  Which reminds me, I really should potty train Jackalope this summer but we'll deal with that when I can let him run around the back yard and hose him off.

Diaper change complete, Jackalope toddles off to find his own shoes while I notice we have 3 minutes before we have to leave the driveway.  Of course, this is the day Kitten  has slept on her damp hair the night before rendering it a mass of tangles and odd right angle kinks but we can't find the detangle spray, let alone a comb.  Um, let's do a bun!  I am brilliant.

Deploy!  Deploy!  Out the door!
"But I'm hungry Mommy"
"I'll feed you as soon as we get home in 10 minutes."
"But I'm hungry noooooo-wwwww!"
"How about I make pancakes when we get home?"
"Okay."  And the cheeky critter gives me a sly grin.  Is it possible this 2 year old has just played me?

Into the car and 3 kids in 3 car seats... can I just say that yes, we ALWAYS wear our seat belts and car seats in this family.  No exceptions.  But man I'm looking forward to the day I don't have to deal with Super H's inability to conjure the minimal hand strength needed to clip his car seat snaps while Jackalope stiffens like a board yelling for some vital toy, rock, or scrap of paper that has fallen on the walk to the car and MUST be retrieved before we can snap him in.  Meanwhile, the big sis Kitten, high on the recent brush of freedom by graduating to a booster seat complains that she can't get the seat belt to snap.  "Okay, I can reinstall the high back booster back that uses the 5 point harness that's easier for you to do."  Suddenly I can hear from the third row the satisfying click of her seat belt latching.

It takes 5 minutes to get to school from our house.  We have 6 minutes, but get caught behind a driver so cautious it would make the car insurance companies Safe Driver program glow with pride.  A good 5mph under the 25mph speed limit through the neighborhood with frequent brakes and sweeping turns for 1 inch deep road depressions, an errant leaf that MIGHT have been an animal, and dodging squirrels silly enough to frolic 10 feet from the side of the road.  Oh. My.  Goodness.  Mommy will not curse.  Mommy will not tail gate.  Mommy will keep her sanity together for a few more minutes.

8 minutes later we pull into Kitten's school parking lot behind our safe driving friend, and she uses her "fast walking feet" to book it to class.  20 minutes later I get the automated system call telling me that my daughter (horrible mispronunciation of her name inserted here) was late.  Hey, we tried.

Now, home to make gluten-free, dairy-free pancakes.