Chapter 31 Eleanor traveling

Chapter 31

Traveling with Eleanor

Both incidents happened while Eleanor was in a car.

Katie, the girls' mom, always tells them to ask questions because that's how they learn. Well, Eleanor took it to the next level.

Ever since she was old enough, Eleanor had attended a daycare owned or run by the Barnes Jewish Christian Hospital, where Andrew works. Andrew dropped her off on his way to work and picked her up on his way home. This is a time for daddy and daughter to talk and bond.

They live in a suburb outside of St. Louis, so each way is during St. Louis rush hour traffic. On this day the traffic was worse than normal as Andrew drove home.

This is Andrew's version of the conversation, 'The traffic was horrible, and the drivers were crazy. Then on top of it, Ellie was just talking because she was bored. No other reason, bored and made-up things to say. I asked her, nicely, if she couldn't be quiet until the traffic died down a little.' As a mom knowing Andrew, I'm not exactly sure how 'nicely' it was, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. LOL

Eleanor's response, "Daddy, how else am I going to learn if I don't ask questions? That's how I learn."

Andrew's comment to me, 'There's no way to win with that child.'

*****

This summer they took a vacation to the East Coast. When they were returning home that Sunday, Andrew called. He has the hands-free calling option.

When they travel, they plan scheduled stops every couple of hours for snacks, bathroom, and activity time for the girls. I wish my dad would have done that. LOL

We discussed how the vacation went and all the funs things they did. Eleanor said, "Daddy, I need to use the bathroom."

"You just did. Can you wait a little longer?"

"No, I need to go, right now."

"Ellie?"

"Daddy, really!"

I need to mention that while they were potty training Eleanor, and they traveled, when she got tired of traveling, she would say she had to go poop. That always caused Andrew to find a place to stop.

Andrew pulled into a gas station. Katie took the girls to the bathroom, and we continued our conversation.

A few minutes later the girls and Katie got back inside the car. After everybody was buckled in Andrew asked, "What happened?"

Katie said, "What makes you think something happened?"

"Your face." He hesitated, "Ellie, what did you do?"

"Daddy, I did nothing."

"Katie? What did she do?"

"Your daughter left the bathroom, walked up to the counter, and told the attendant that they needed to change the placement of the toilet paper roll because it's in an inconvenient place."

"Why's she my daughter?"

"You know why? Am I right, Barbara?"

"You're right," I replied. I couldn't help but laugh. Gotta love that girl.

Andrew is an engineer and often finds things as he puts it, 'not up to code.'

The photograph was taken over Labor Day. Andrew and Katie took the girls to a St. Louis Cardinal baseball game. Andrew has been a Cards fan since he was old enough to know about baseball. I've written so much about this family, I thought I'd do a whole family photograph.