Mom or MacGyver?

The past few days I've been feeling like I'm MacGyver Mommy. We've had a few, um, situations where I just needed to act fast and with stealth to avoid either a meltdown or a really, really bad mess.    The other day Gia and I were on the way back from a shopping trip. We were on the highway and had just passed through a busy area with lots of shops and fast food restaurants and were in a more barren stretch of highway, when Gia said, "Mommy, I have to go pee pee." Except, she didn't say it so much as she whimpered it. I knew she had to go badly. There was no way we'd make it 5 more minutes up the road to the next stretch of stores with bathrooms. I told her to hang on for 1 minute while I merged and pulled over to the side of the road.   I kicked off my shoes, unbuckled Gia from her car seat and told her to pull her pants down. Then I did my best to heave my pregnant belly into the passenger seat of my car so I could lean into the back to set up our portable potty (we have THIS ONE and we love it.). Somehow I scooped Gia up and put her on the potty. Let's just say she must have been holding it for a long time.    Once she did her business, I used a random napkin from the glove compartment to clean her up and then she pulled up her own pants and climbed right back into her car seat. She even buckled herself in while I cleaned up the potty and, then we were on our way again less than 5 minutes later. I was so proud of both of us: me for being thinking fast and being calm and her for holding it for a minute and then just going with the flow (pun intended) and not fighting me at all.    Then today we were out and about, even though Gia has a cold.  Before we left the house Gia told me she felt fine, and didn't need any medicine, but I brought it with us just in case. When we got to our destination she felt so warm to me. I had taken her temp a few hours earlier and it was fine; at this point though, it was clear that she had a fever. She was still refusing medicine, so I gave her a some water and a snack.    An hour later we were on our way home and Gia was all snuggled into her car seat. I asked her how she was feeling and she said she was ok. Again I asked if she wanted medicine and finally she said yes. Too bad I was driving around Union City NJ trying to get back to 495 & Rt 3. At the next red light, I seized the moment: I poured a tablespoon of Tylenol into the itty bitty cup, passed it back and told her to drink it up, and not to spill it. She gulped it down and passed the cup back like a little champion, all before the light changed.    It's moments like these--when difficult or potentially messy situations are figured out quickly and easily--that I think I've got this mommy thing down! But don't hate me for saying that because not 10 minutes later the universe will remind me that no, I'm not really in control: my kid will be the one nearly throwing a tantrum because she doesn't want to wear her brand new sneakers.      

My little sickie felt good enough for some frozen yogurt!

Passed out on the couch