My kid ratted me out

So I had about 5 errands that I needed to run this morning with Jack and Ben in the car with me. By the 5th errand, I had had it with getting them in and out of their carseats, keeping them contained in the stores, and getting them back in their carseats without incident. (Actually, who am I kidding? There is no such thing as "without incident" with my three schnookers!)

I thought the gods of parking must have been smiling down on me, because when I pulled up to the hair salon to get shampoo, there was a spot right in front of the door. The fact that it was a "no parking" spot did not matter to me because all I was going to do was run in, get my shampoo and run out, while (gasp!) leaving the kids in the car.

Before you get ready to turn me in to DSS, know that the doors to the salon are about 4 feet from my parked car, they are solid, clear glass, and the shampoo and cash register are both directly in front of the door. I am never less than 6 feet from my kids and I can see them clearly the entire time. (Because I am not the type of mom that would, say, leave her kids in the car while she went in to Starbucks to get her fix. No way. Not this mom.)

But do you know that in the less than 2 minutes I am in the store, I see a Parking Enforcer Guy ride up to my car on one of those Segway thingies. I open the door and say, in my most pathetic, begging voice, "I'm right here! I'll be out in one second!" hoping that will persuade him to turn around and leave my car alone. Of course, he didn't care one bit and he gleefully wrote me the ticket and stuck it under my windshield wiper.

Normally I would argue or at least try to change his mind, but this time I just bit my tongue because I knew that if he looked a little closer he would see that on top of parking illegally, I also left my children in the car unattended which, as illegal things go, is REALLY ILLEGAL. So illegal that the fee is $400.

So I just smiled at Mr. Meter Man and accepted the ticket gracefully.

When I got in the car, Jack and Ben were beside themselves. "MOM! Did you see that? The police officer just rode up to our car and put a letter under our wiper? Did you see that? That was so cool!"

I grumbled something about a ticket and thought that was the end of it. What was I thinking?

When we arrived home about 10 minutes later, Jack went SPRINTING into the house. "Daddy, Daddy! Mommy went into the haircut place for shampoo and when she was in there, the police officer came over and gave us a ticket and Ben and I were in the car so we got to see the whole thing!"

Clearly we need to have a talk. What happens with Mommy, stays with Mommy.