The Longest Drive Ever!

Now that enough time has passed, I can talk about our morning excursion last Wednesday. The original plan was to go to the Savage Library and then on to Annapolis to hang out at the mall there, go to the comic shop and buy some groceries (Lucy and Jacob go through milk faster than light through a vacuum). Jacob had a completely different agenda in mind.

Jacob spent the morning begging, whining and flat out stating that we were going to the "Millis Mall," which translates to Arundel Mills Mall. This continued through breakfast and snack time. Eventually, he started throwing toys to make his point. I told him after the second toy that he'd get a time out if he threw another. He picked up another toy. He smiled. He threw it. Then he said he wanted time out in mommy and daddy's room. He was pretty smug about it, too. So I put him in his own room. Then he really pitched a fit about being in the wrong room. Lucy and I hung out for the two minutes then released him from his prison. Now he was upset and we were running late for running errands.

So I decided to concede and draft a new plan: we could go to the Elkridge Library and the Mills Mall. So we loaded up in the van and headed out. After about 10 minutes of driving, Jacob fell asleep! At 10 in the morning! Quite annoying, so I decided we would just drop the books that were due in the outside box. Not having been to the Elkridge branch before, I drove past it and had to turn around. So it eventually worked out. Then I saw a Shell gas station, which is offering a gas discount with a grocery store frequent shopper card. The card didn't work, so I had to pay full price. After that, I told Lucy we would head home and put Jacob in his bed.

Driving back down I-95, a truck with a smoking engine was pulled over on the curb. Everyone in front of me had hit their brakes to slow down and look, so I had to hit the brakes too. I braked hard enough to wake up Jacob 5 minutes from home. He started crying and demanding the mall again, so we turned the car around yet again and headed back north to the mall.

We finally got there and followed our usual routine. We visited the coin-operated ride-on machines, riding them without coining them. Lucy rode on some of them for the first time. Then we walked over to the book store and hung out in the kid's section, which features a Thomas train table. On our way back to the car, we looked at the waterfalls and the fish tank in Bass Pro Shop. Jacob was finally satisfied and we headed home for lunch.

Lucy was very patient through the whole affair and got to eat a quarter of a slice of bread with her lunch as a special treat. Jacob had his usual peanut butter sandwich with fruit on the side. I was worried that nap time would be delayed since Jacob slept in the car, but everything went normally.

Changing plans constantly was a challenge. I'm glad I rose to the occasion, but I hope the occasion does not arise again.