The Baby Expert: Make a Wish

Before we had Caitlyn, I would zip around town in a Toyota Vios, the cheapest, smallest, most reliable car that could be had for people on a budget. There was really no concern for space. But after Caitlyn came around and there was a need to put in a car seat along with lugging countless diaper bags and various knick-knacks, space became an issue.

Even with me pulling the driver’s seat all the way forward so that my knees were practically touching my chest, the wife would still complain about not having enough space in the back. This would only be magnified when my parents would come to visit for extended periods of time and space became an even more precious, limited resource.

Even after I traded the Vios in for a bigger sedan, complaints would still arise from time to time. It was then that I decided it was time to say the one word most men dread when it comes to buying a car - “mini-van.”

They’re the complete opposite of sporty and sexy, but what it lacks in physical appeal, a mini-van more than makes up with physical space. I realized that to give the wife the space she was looking for was to add a second row in the back. Any extra passengers or bags could be thrown into this row when needed without the wife sacrificing any of her space.

In my eyes, the Toyota Wish was the perfect car for us, especially if we ever plan on expanding our family. It has decent gas mileage, two rows of seating in the back, and is actually smaller than our previous sedan for easy maneuverability in the city. Thinking that the wife would see eye to eye with me, I laid out my well-thought-out plan to finally get her the car she needed.

Unfortunately, her response merely confirmed that women just aren’t the logical and rational creatures they like to think they are. Instead of jumping up and down for joy over the prospect of having all the space she could possibly want, she stated that it was ugly and that it reminded her of a taxi car.

Well, first of all, this isn’t a beauty contest. Beauty is only skin deep. Second of all, having taxi drivers everywhere driving this car is probably a good sign, as it means that it’s a reliable and useful car for transporting people around town.

After much heated debate and discussion, I finally wore her down, and she reluctantly agreed to the car, though she warned me that it didn’t mean she was going to like the decision. But after having ridden around in the car for about two weeks now, I haven’t heard a peep from her yet, which is the wife’s way of telling me that I was right and she was wrong.

And it couldn’t have come at a better time because my parents unexpectedly came up for another two-month visit without any real prior warning. What better time than now to put this bad boy to use! The icing on the cake is that for whatever reason, Caitlyn has now started insisting that the wife sit in the front passenger seat instead of next to her. Win-win for everybody.