Excellent driving

Some time this past winter, Kendra developed a deep fascination with driving.

Although sometimes we appease it with those handy dandy car carts, she's even more enthusiastic about the REAL THING.

So, we got into a little habit.

Every time it snowed and I'd need to shovel a bit to really clear out a space (because even in January I was just too pregnant to clamber over huge piles of snow just to get in and out of my car), instead of using her precious nap time, I'd let her play in the car while I shoveled around it.  She never got tired of it, even if I took a ridiculously long time (and I'm a pretty anal parking-spot-clearer-outer, so that happened pretty often).

Well, there's no more snow and I'm even more pregnant and she still loves playing in the car.

Sometimes, I really need to just get inside for one reason or another...but I try reallyreally hard to be someone who doesn't get so caught up in the "business" of life that I forget to take opprotunities to do the simple fun stuff, even if there's a whole pile of to-do waiting somewhere.

After all, this time just ain't gonna last forever--and there's only so many times I can look into those big blue eyes so innocently asking me to play in the car when I can really think that whatever is waiting for me inside surely can't wait another few minutes for her to play...

So every now and again, even if it's not convenient, when we pull in and park, I turn off the engine and reach back and unbuckle her from her car seat and help her get out of the straps (because she'll frantically scramble once she realizes she gets to do it) so that she can take my place when I get out of the front and do this:

I love that she wears a seat belt for this because she totally did that of her own accord, I never even showed her where it was.

We've got a pretty sweet parking situation that allows me to leave her in the car but keep her in eyesight as I unload our groceries--there's often a spot open that's about 10 meters in front of our side door.

So, to really let her get her fill, I usually bring in the bags one at a time.  Even my purse gets its own trip to stretch it out a little more.

She really gets into it.  The first thing she does is turn on our hazards and often I have to turn off the wipers when I get back in to drive somewhere the next time.  She has so much fun that if she's not ready to get out by the time I've stretched out the unloading as far as I can, I take a moment to throw melty things in the freezer and grab a magazine and just sit with her until she's had her fill.

I could barely get her to look at me to take this shot after she'd been doing this for at least 10 minutes.

This awesome little person has given us a healthy dose of over-the-top cute and adorable since the day she was born--this is just one example of the sheer FUN we get out of life through her day in and day out.