Estimated Time of Departure

En route to Beals

Happy to be there- Maya's first time in the Leap Frog


Thursday morning we had to leave for Beals Island by 8 am. Last time we went we had to leave by 8 am (not a lot of wiggle room as I had a 10:15 client) and at 8 we were not yet in the car and Sandi was saying what a good job we had done getting out. I told her we needed to be driving out of the driveway at 8, not still making last minute bathroom runs and getting boots on, and that I meant the time literally since I had booked my client. I was reminded of a scene from "Everybody Loves Raymond" wherein the time of departure is A.I.S.- ass in the seat. We have reformulated the E.T.D (estimated time of departure) to be A.I.S. This morning we were driving out at 8 sharp. Pat on the back girls!




So rewind back to Monday when Sandi was getting the girls out to Ella's gymnastics class by herself (I was at work.) She had left plenty of wiggle room since Ella is notoriously stalling these days. I'll let her tell the story:

I was holding the infant seat with a screaming baby inside. The diaper bag was over my shoulder with food and drink items inside for everyone, changes of clothes, diapers, an extra bottle - all the needed supplies for a short outing. Last minute (I thought), I grabbed the baby bjorn just in case I needed to pace with Maya if she remained awake throughout the class. I had my water pitcher in hand which is a must at all times these days with milk production and all. Now I only needed the toddler that I was trying to get out the door in time so we "wouldn't miss this bubbles." Ella NEEDED to have her book to read on the way and her pocketbook for looks. Before we could leave the living room, she became determined that she must take the new calculater that pops up at the push of a button so that Brooke (her friend) could get in on the action. I placed that in the pocket of her purple plush jumpsuit. This was quite satisfying to my 3 year old. When I attempted to put her ponytail in, she demanded that we wait until we get there before her hair had to be pulled back, but in that moment she decided that she had to have her decorative ponytail holders. She ran for the bathroom and grabbed the pink transparent ponytail holder container, which is about 8 inches on all sides - not tiny, but smaller than a breadbox. Imagine a ponytail suitcase. Since I still had the infant carseat in my arm and the diaper bag over my shoulder, I attempted to open the pink box and retreive that which she desired with one hand. Failing miserably, and becoming short on the patience, I grabbed the now despised container with my free hand and proclaimed, "Fine. We'll take the whole thing." Almost to the door, I snatched up the nearest hat to place on Ella's head. What was I thinking? If she had ponytails, she must have her ponytail hat, not the silly hat that I had so thoughtlessly grabbed hold of. I said, "but Ella, you don't have any ponytails in." "I NEED MY PONYTAIL HAT!" I threw open the drawer, grabbed yet another hat and topped off my exploding diaper bag. We muscled our way out the door, I threw open the van door and chucked everything inside, including the 3 year old and the baby. As we pulled out of the driveway, my exasperation reached a new height. In all the commotion, I left my water pitcher on the cupboard. Sensing my now highly apparent frustration, Ella very nurturingly offered, "It's O.K. Mommy. It's hard with two kids."