Survival Instincts

I have come to the conclusion that mother's who have a clean car - by which I mean a clean backseat - scare me. Case in point: we've had a rental car for about 3 days now, and Abigail has already destroyed it. Crumbs, dribbles of milk and toys abound. It's hopeless. I've tried - I really have! - to clean the backseat on a regular basis, but somehow seeing you hard work and painstaking vacuuming going to waist mere moments after your toddler gets into her car seat is demoralizing.

So Mom's out there who have an immaculate car: I don't trust you. It just doesn't seem possible. I'm sure you have a logical system for keeping it clean, something really simple like "no food in the car" and "only water in the sippies" and good for you, hope that works out well. Sadly my feisty daughter would not survive without her milk, her cheese crackers and her fruit snacks for each trip. The result being, naturally, enough food on the floor of the car to feed a family of 4 for the better part of a weekend.

All of this naturally leaves only one option: draw a line down the middle of the car - my side and theirs. Mine will be a clean Mommy-only zone: no cheese cracker crumbs, no sippy spills, no fruit snacks embedded into the carpet. And their side? I think I'll leave it alone on the off chance we're ever stranded and need food until the rescue chopper arrives.