The car wash terrifies him to the point that the road salt ate away at the bottom of my car well into May before I had a chance to go through the car wash without him. As soon as I start entering the code, he starts screaming at the top of his lungs and doesn't stop until I drive out. Then he says, "All done!" and continues with life as if nothing happened.
However, on our recent drive to South Carolina, we realized that even when he is not screaming in the car wash, he is thinking about car washes. He sees them everywhere. Auto repair shops, loading docks, and stores with big front windows all prompt a little voice from the back seat saying, "I see ca was. I see tree ca wasis!"
Braden's favorite book right now is called, "Clifford and the Bath", where Clifford, due to his immense size, must bathe in - you guessed it - a car wash.
And like a 3D ink blot test, everything built out of Legos or blocks is not a pirate ship, airplane or Bat Cave, but a car wash. Most of us have just given in and started building car washes. Below is a particularly good one made by Tom.
I haven't yet decided whether this car wash obsession is therapeutic or just plain weird. But since he remains well adjusted in the rest of his life, for now I'm voting therapeutic.
