Belly Laughs From the Backseat

Coming back to work after a three-day weekend is hard.  Coming back to work after a week and a half beach vacation is even harder.  Needless to say, by the end of a very stressful and frustrating Tuesday, I was ready to leave work. 

At 4:45 (exactly), I got up from my desk and started the trek to my parking spot.  I got into my car, drove west on I-90, cursed the drivers slowing down for the 'rain', and walked into day-care, still seething mad, rehashing the events of my day.

I went to Colin's room first, scooped him, his artwork, and an incident report (for bumping his head) up, and then walked to Jack's room.  I gathered Jack's gear, and we all walked to the car.  Both boys looked about as weary as I felt.  A case of the Monday's certainly doesn't exclude infants and toddlers!  They had gotten used to days at the beach, sleeping in, and long naps in a quiet house too. 

Once we got to the parking lot I told Colin to "hop on in". 

He took this literally. You gotta love 2 1/2 year olds!

After looking at up me for a second, he hopped, hopped, hopped his way to the mini-van, and then hopped into his car seat while yelling "I'm a bunny! I'm hopping!"

That's when the first layer of my bad day melted away.  A smile cracked my pursed lips.

I secured Jack into his car seat while Colin was calling out for me to play his music cd (which is a delightful blend of songs in the highest pitch ever, of which Colin only wants to hear two songs over, and over, and over).

No more than 30 seconds later I heard a little giggle.  I peered in the rear-view mirror, and saw Colin making silly faces and playing peak-a-boo with Jack. 

Then, the little giggle exploded!  It was a full on, loud, from the gut, belly laugh.  Jack could barely breathe he was laughing so hard. 

Then Colin started laughing.  He was delighted in the fact that his goofiness has elicited such a reaction from his little bro.

Then I started laughing. I couldn't stop.  I turned around, looked at Colin, and we both laughed even harder, which then got Jack riled up and he squealed in laughter!

I honestly can't remember the last time I laughed as hard or as long as that.  I had tears streaming down my face. Everything that I had been stewing over was gone. 

I was truly in the moment, and it was bliss.