Lion and Magic Boy

Although I didn’t write this post up at Strollerderby about carsick kids, reading it reminded me of something.

[Excuse me a sec.]

There. All better.

Now, where were we?

Oh yes. I was telling you about my brother’s wedding! That’s right, my brother got married in September 2000 when Nathaniel was four and a half and Serena was about nine months and Eric was still very far away indeed. We all flew to California for the momentous occasion, knowing that if my brother had waited 40 years to get married it was unlikely to occur more than once so I’d better be on hand.

The flight was unremarkable besides being Serena’s first one, and the trip was good, the weather nice, and the wedding, held in their back yard atop a mountain on the high side of Santa Cruz, was perfect.

We arose early to depart our hotel and drive to the airport to return home. I drove, of course. I always drove.

Naturally, this being California, our experience would not be complete without a few hours of rush-hour traffic, and the San Jose Airport area was jammed. It looked like we might be late for our flight. Damn.

I’m in the right lane, thinking about getting off somewhere, anywhere, to find another route to the airport, when all of a sudden Nathaniel yells, “Pull over!”

“What?” I ask. “We can’t pull over, we’re in traffic, there’s nowhere to stop. We’ll be there soon,” I soothed.

“PULL OVER!!!”

“I. Can’t. Pull. Over.” Lips tight over teeth. Who does that four-year old think he is, dictating to me? Telling me to pull over? (Where did he learn that phrase?) I’ll show him—-

~~~~~~~~~~bleeeaaaaagggghhhhhh~~~~~~~~~~

Nathaniel had thrown up all over himself, the rented car seat, and the rented minivan.

I pulled over.

[tags]throwing up, car sickness, children, barf[/tags]