Three's a crowd (and a lot of work!)

Advaith's preschool teachers have been asking when they get to meet Yukta. I'd promised them last week that I would bring her to school today (Monday). It was to be my first expedition with the two children, without anybody to assist.

So Ads and got ready as usual and Y was awake and smiling at 9 am, which is when we usually leave for school. Just as I was asking Ads to put on his jacket, he decided he wanted to go potty. There was a mad scramble to locate the portable potty since the regular potty seat was not accessible (S being in the master bedroom on a conference call, having specifically instructed me not to disturb him unless someone was bleeding to death -- or something like that :)) Thankfully I remembered just in time that the portable throne was in the store room. We settled Ads in with his monster truck and he played and hummed happily while doing his business. By now it was 9.10 and I was anxiously glancing at the clock. After Ads finished, he and I had the usual wrestling match with me trying to slide on his jacket, shoes and socks and him loudly protesting and rolling on the floor.

By this time, my mom had strapped Y in the car seat which was perched on the stroller and she has started wailing, as his her wont whenever she is imprisoned in that contraption. I hoisted Y's diaper bag on my back, pushed Ads' backpack into the stroller carrier and started pushing the stroller out the door, this maneuver slightly complicated by the fact that Ads had decided that it was more interesting wrap himself around my left leg and be dragged along that to actually locomote on his own. After I had disengaged him (nicely and softly and NOT by screaming shrilly -- my main objective being to avoid a tantrum!), we somehow got downstairs and near the car. I pushed Y's car seat into the car seat base, folded and stored the stroller in the boot and strapped Ads into his car seat. By the end of this exercise, I was already exhausted and wondering why I was taking Y to that dratted school.

We did the whole thing in reverse on reaching the school. After bidding goodbye to Ads, I got back to the car and noted with great relief that Y, who had fallen asleep on the way to school, showed no signs of waking up. So the ride home was peaceful and uneventful.

I'm sure transporting 2 kids to and fro will be a cinch as time goes by and I become more expert. In the meantime, it's gratifying to realize that all this pushing and bending and stretching will melt the baby pounds in no time ;-)