I had planned to leave my house in the early evening, but when you are dealing with 3 little boys, it is not always the easiest thing to stay on schedule, and I did not roll out of our driveway until well after bedtime. Had you been in my car it would have been apparent that it was WAY TOO LATE to be leaving due to Owen's bawling. He started to cry the moment we left because Daddy had to work the next day, and was not coming with us.
At first this did not bug me, it was late, I figured he would fall a sleep soon, and to be honest I was bummed that Tom was not coming. Ten minutes into the drive, Max and Tal are asleep, but Owen is still wailing. So I tried to consul him, and reach back to hold his hand. Which DID NOT help at all. Twenty minutes into the drive, Max and Tal are still asleep, Owen is still crying, and I get pulled over.
My brain immediately tries to figure out what I did. I know that I was not speeding, I had the cruise control. Our car is new, so I know its registration is current. All the lights are working. WHAT DID I DO?
The officer walks up to my car, and this is how our conversation went:
Officer: Good evening ma'am. Do you know why I pulled you over tonight?
Me: Honestly officer, I do not know.
Officer: (takes a step closer to the truck, and takes a good deep sniff of the air, then he sees the boys all safely buckled in the car seats behind me) Well, we had a call from a concerned citizen that the operator of this vehicle was obviously impaired. But I think it is pretty obvious you have not been drinking tonight.
Me: No sir, just dealing with a crying four-year-old.
Officer: (looks at Owen and says) You need to stop crying and let your mom drive.
Owen: (Wide-eyed, sat strait up, and nodded his head) Ok.
Then the officer went back to his car, got Owen a Junior UHP badge, and sent us on our way. And Owen did not make a peep the rest of the drive.
I remember having to correct the car a but when I reached back to hold Owen's hand. But, I had no idea that it was so drastic that someone actually thought I was drunk.
So, the morals of the story are:
1) if you kids are crying in the car, ignore them, you don't want a DUI-WK (driving under the influence of wailing kid) on you record.
2) If your kid refuses to calm down. Just get the local law enforcement to scare them onto behaving.
