Target practice

Sometimes a split second decision to avoid immediate consequences comes back to bite you later on.  We were on our way back from the beach, about a 5 hour drive.  Who doesn't love road trips with a 3 year old and 21 month old?  I don't.  We stopped for a potty break at a gas station where my daughter proceeded to pick up everything and ask "Mommy, can I buy this?"  My daughter is fairly easily distracted at this point, and I bribed her away from the souvenir aisle with cookies.  However, not before she held up a glow-in-the-dark soccer ball and showed my son, whose obsession with balls has reached an all-time high.  I could feel the temper tantrum rising in him as I tried to pry the ball out of his monster grip.  I then imagined the next 50 miles with him screaming "sah-sir ball" at the top of his lungs.  "Buy the ball now," I barked at my husband.  And we were off without a tear.
Two hours down the road, we stopped for lunch.  My son still had his grip on the soccer ball as he sat at the table eating.  He decided to roll the ball across the table to my daughter, which seemed like an innocent enough game.  I got up to get some drinks when out of the corner of my eye, I saw a flashing ball fly across the restaurant, bouncing on someone's plate before whizzing about a millimeter from someone else's head. Needless to say, my son was not happy when we put the ball away for the rest of lunch.