Some of my friends tease me because I’m very laid back for a first-time mother.  My toddler is playing at the bottom of the stairs while a larger toddler is sliding down them?  No sweat.  He’s not eating as well as he did two days ago?  Eh, he’ll snap out of it.  He fell down and bumped his head?  Well, he’s not crying, so I’m sure he’s fine.  You get the idea.

One thing that I have been more particular about is what I feed him (when he decides to eat, that is).  While I did go through a brief phase where I distracted the little guy with chocolate chips, the vast majority of the time I try to feed him healthy, low sugar, natural snacks.  Yesterday he was happily munching on red pepper slices.

Today I crossed a major line in my feeding favoritism.  I shamelessly and unhesitatingly (almost) bribed my son to get into his car-seat with a cookie.  A white sugar, white flour, colored sprinkles, margarine-filled cookie.

Let me ‘splain.

Little man has been on a car-seat boycott for the past week or so.  I’m talking back-arching, full-body wriggling, shrieking, turning, the works.  It’s real fun.  Especially since I am in the unwieldy third-trimester phase, and it’s hot and humid out.  He seems to think that he can sit on the actual seat next to his car-seat.  I explain to him, as I’m manhandling my screaming child into his buckles, that he needs to be in his car-seat because it’s safer.  Of course, he is 18-months old, and could care less.

Today I was running a number of errands and just did not have the energy to wrestle with him over and over again.  One of the errands was next to a kosher bakery, and the thought crossed my mind that if I gave him a cookie, he probably wouldn’t even notice that I was putting him in his car-seat.

And I was right.

While the experiment was a resounding success (no shocker there), I don’t want this to be the norm.  Any suggestions for tricks to get an unwilling toddler into his seat?  Or should I just wait for this phase to pass, like the others?

Also, to get a little philosophical, I was thinking that there are things which we don’t want to do as adults (exercise, for example), but as soon as there’s an incentive (that favorite skirt is a little tight) the situation changes.  Too bad all the incentives as adults aren’t as yummy as cookies.