This afternoon I was dragging — I think these early mornings are catching up with me — and I drove past Caleb’s favorite, the “yellow M.” Living in Oman is kind of like being in the twilight zone because in America it would never occur to me to stop at McDonald’s on purpose (the only time we went in the last 4 years is when one of the boys had an end of season party there), but here it doesn’t seem as bad for you. I take that back, it does seem just as bad, but I don’t care. Or I’ve given up. Something like that.
Anyway, I needed a Coke because I had a headache all morning and the McDonald’s drive through was preferable to taking Camille out of her car seat and going into the grocery store. And as long as I was there, I was of course going to buy McJoy On A Cone for 25 cents. And since I didn’t want to share mine with Camille (in my defense they are pretty small), I bought her her own. To eat by herself. In the backseat. By herself.
I don’t know what the guy thought as he saw me drive off with my drink held between my knees and a cone in each hand (probably nothing since that’s not even close to the craziest thing I’ve seen while driving this week), but I pulled over and “fixed” Camille’s cone for her (taking a few bites off the top since it was already starting to melt in the heat) and then blindly handed it back as I drove off. She has had her own cone before, but one of the boys has always held it for her and given her bites. All I could hear were happy smacking sounds coming from her carseat as I headed home.
At one point, deciding that her cone must need a little “touch up” I reached back, felt around for it and took it away from her. She was not a big fan of that. She started screaming and didn’t stop until the cone was safely back in her possession. When we pulled in the driveway I was treated to this beautiful face.
With those kinds of smiles as a reward, it’s a wonder I don’t buy ice cream for her every day.