A Trip to the Car Wash

I took Lila with me yesterday to the car wash. Who knew it would be such a formative experience? First, we had to turn Mommy's car ("Carsie" we call her) over to a man with a loud hose - Lila wasn't so sure he had the best of intentions, so she shook her head, waved him off and said "No!" with enough vehemence that he felt obligated to look to me for permission to start vacuuming.

Then we went to watch the car as it moved through the track. We walked up three stairs and then along the parking lot that ran parallel to the washer - it was a perfect view to see every step of the process. But it turned out to be more traumatic than exciting for Lila, who started to cry when the giant hoses started blowing white suds all over my blue Volvo. "Ouchie! Ouchie!" she cried, fearing the worst for Mommy's car. She buried her face in my shirt, too scared to watch the fate of Carsie, and would only stop when she saw it come out the other end like new.





I tried to explain to her, in the meantime, that Mommy's car was getting a shower. For 24 straight hours she has clung to this concept, bringing it up constantly, apropos of nothing. For example, when Josh and Lila came back from a little stroll around the block this afternoon, he attempted to include her in the recap:

'We went for a walk around the block, didn't we, Lila? We went to the high school and we climbed ALL the stairs at least three times-"
"Car. Mommy car!"
"And then we walked back with you on my shoulders - we could see ourselves in the store windows. Remember?"
"Car. Shower! Car. Shower!"
"And when we walked by the hotel on the corner there were two men making a flower delivery, and they gave us these roses for Mommy! Isn't that nice? Here, give the flowers to mommy-"
"Mommy car shower! Shower!"





And now I just put her down for bed for the night, and as she held her blanket, Mr. Nighty Night, up to her nose, popped her thumb into her mouth and curled into my underarm, she broke the seal around her thumb for a moment to whisper, "Car shower, nighty night."

And down she went, without another peep.

(Nighty night, Carsie.)