Baby You Can Drive My Car

I imagine most parents have trouble getting their kids to buckle seatbelts and settle into their carseats once they have passed the age where parents are carrying them, but with twins, there's a further complication: what to do about the child who is free to run around while you're busy buckling in the other child. In our case, this inevitably means that each time we head out to the car, one or the other of our girls (usually Caroline) bolts straight into the back cargo area and somehow manages to make herself just out of reach. After listening to the complaints of the first child who is either a) not wanting to be buckled in or b) wanting to be buckled in ONLY if she can do it all by herself (a process that will take no less than 5 quite frustrating minutes for this impatient mama), I begin to strategize. Do I open the back hatch, forcing the second child towards her car seat or attempt to shimmy my way into the super-tight second row of our "mini minivan" and trap said second child in the spot she only THOUGHT was out of reach? Either way, it's bound to be a stand-off, or else another good 5 minutes with yet another stubbornly terrible-two child, unwilling to be buckled in, then insisting to do the buckling herself.
Many times, the second child ends up running to the front seat and pretends to drive. There is no end to the giggles that follow and the delight this provides the first child. In fact, my girls have had so much fun making a game out of staying out of mom's reach that I have to admit that I allow it to go on longer than it should sometimes just to see the smiles and hear the giggles. The joke is often on me, though, when I finally do get everyone buckled in and start the engine, only to find the windshield wipers turned on, the radio turned all the way up, and the bright lights on... Little boys may play with toy cars, but apparently little girls prefer the real thing :-)

In the front passenger seat of our car, attempting to avoid getting buckled in. Note the dresses for St. Patrick's Day. They may only be 1/4 Irish, but their mama is proud :-)