Murphy's Law of Motherhood #16-If There Is a Crack, They Will Put Money In It

Many five-year old boys have an inherent need to sit in the driver's seat to "drive".  J-boy is no exception.  When we're sitting in the vehicle waiting around for someone to run an errand, we'll often humor him and let him take the wheel and play with the controls.  When you have a child that has to be doing something ALL the time, it's nice to let them enjoy themselves while you zone out for a moment or two.

Yesterday, J-boy and Uncle Brian were hanging out in the van together while Aunt Rachel, Dad, and I shopped.  At some point, J-boy decided it would be a fabulous idea to run a quarter around the outside of the steering wheel.  Little did he know that there was enough space in the crack that the quarter could slip down into the steering wheel.  I think Uncle Brian saw it coming, but by that time it was too late. It was in there and it wasn't coming out.

As we started out of the parking lot, we hear "HOOOOOOOONNNNNNNKKKKK!!!!"  The quarter had apparently completed some kind of circuit in there, so then every time we turned a corner or hit a bump, the van would honk.  Oh, joy!

We live in a small town with a lot of "walkers" and bad drivers.  "Walker" is not a term for a zombie in this case (though sometimes we wonder).  It is code talk for shady characters who walk around asking people for money.  They are generally the non-combatant variety of folks, but if you're driving down the road with your horn blaring, you really wonder what reaction they're going to give you.  In an effort to not get shot, we chose to use a technique employed by beauty contestants far and wide: smile and wave.  We drove for miles smile and waving around every corner and over every bump.  I've not seen that many toothless grins since the last first grade picture day I attended.

After laughing ourselves sick on the drive home, Uncle Brian was successful at wiggling the quarter out of the steering wheel.   How thankful I am that we did not have to take it in to have a mechanic dig it out!  I'm also very thankful that J-boy did not decide to put the quarter in the CD player.  (Though I'm pretty sure he's thought about it a time or two ;)

Note to self: Start putting change in purse and not in the change divider.

 Here's a slice of a honkin' good time: