The car ride to daycare (or anywhere) is much better without socks

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Sock puppet or inexpensive glove?
According to The Kid, the best way to ride in the car is barefoot.  I would say this is genetic if The Kid wasn't adopted, and my mom would be ready with stories as proof. Almost 40 years later, she still likes telling stories about me stripping off my clothes at Johnny's Market in Vermontville.

For the past few months, she's been obsessed with taking her shoes and socks off the moment I put the car in gear for our drive to daycare, if not sooner. At some point, Gladys put The Kid's socks on her hands, which means she has one sock on her right hand most of the ride in. It also results in the occasional mid-level fit when you try to put her shoes and socks back on before entering any building.

I've done a number of things to keep her socks on since. Switching shoes worked for a day. Bringing her favorite stuffed animal only helped keep her footwear on until we left the parking lot of our building. Singing her favorite songs will get you an enthusiastic ovation, sans socks.  I've even started our journey without the shoes and socks, only to have a sobbing child in the backseat for the 15 minute drive to daycare, and a fight to put them on her when we arrived.

I'm beginning to appreciate her "no car ride with shoes or socks" phase because it gives me a chance to steal an extra two minutes with her before I have to leave for work. When she's wearing brown shoes with the pink flower, she will try to put them back on herself before I get to the backseat to help, sans socks. And I'm getting pretty good at catching little feet that fly through the air with incredible force. 

These are the little moments I was hoping I could have with my daughter someday. I'm glad I'm able to start enjoying them now. Hopefully she'll soon be able to tell me if those are her sock puppets or if she's really just using them as gloves for the chilly ride in the car with Papa.   

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