Mama Race Car

There are two things in this world that our two year old loves, they are books and the movie Cars. Not just the movie, he loves everything about the movie especially the actual characters Lightning McQueen and Tow Mater. I am somewhat frugal and I understand how children go through phases of loving certain objects so when it came to purchasing these toys for him I opted to buy him the cars that hold bubble bath. Two for one?! Can’t go wrong with that!

This “phase” has lasted longer than expected and in hindsight I should’ve spent some extra money with the initial purchase. I say this because Nolan wakes up and runs to the “garage” where he had to put his cars to rest at bed time and he cries when it’s time to say goodnight to them at the end of the day. He spends the majority of his day with his hands attached to these vehicles. Nollie always gets to be Lightning who he fondly calls “ish car” and without fail I pretend to be Mater or otherwise known as “chi chi guck”. Don’t ask, I can barely understand the name myself. Well, his race car has been played with SO much that the wheels are literally falling off. When this dramatic event happens it goes to the “shop”, the shop would be me with a dwindling tube of Krazy Glue and the magic power of putting the wheel back on.

I bought him a new car this week since it was definitely time for one. He has since named his old race car with only one functioning wheel and peeling stickers “Mama Race Car“. His new car is “Daddy Race Car” and our friend Jen gave him a small lightning matchbox car which is now “Baby Race Car”.

This whole car naming situation had me laughing at first but then I started to think about the thought process behind it. I may be reading too far into this but after all, the race car that has my name is the one that could be thrown into the garbage tomorrow without a blink of an eye.

Does Nolan really see me as the one who is breaking down all the time, even if I don’t literally breakdown. He holds his daddy in such high regard it’s no wonder that he gets to be the shiny new functioning car that gets hugged non stop. Is he giving the old race car the name Mama because he isn’t getting enough of my attention?

Of course that would make sense. I am one person trying to give two children the attention they not only need but crave and desire. It is approximately one more month until the love of my life returns home to his family and I could not be happier! He will be able to spend time with both of the kids or just one at a time while I spend some quality one on one time with the other child. I won’t have to hear myself say “Sorry Nolan, I can’t play right now I am feeding your brother” or “not right now I have to clean up“. It is a feeling of frustration and guilt that I have to tell our two year old over and over again that I can’t read books or play cars with him because I have to also dedicate my time to Grant. I’m sure both of these boys will be fine in the long run and I know this because I DO play cars and read books. I do spend a good portion of my day pushing that tow truck around perfecting my best Larry the Cable Guy accent. My heart says that Nolan is just giving his cars names because now he has an official race car family. My mind thinks that I need to keep my wheels and stickers on for at least another month, then I can park in that garage for a decent rest. After all, it’s hard to be the apple of a child’s eye whether you are a race car, a tow truck, or some old broken down Mama. I think I’ll buy some more Krazy Glue just in case.