Early lessons in manipulation

This afternoon after work as I headed for the stairs down to the subway, I realized that there was a major traffic jam.  People were coming up the stairs, but no one was going down.  As I tried to get a view of what the problem was, I saw a young mother who could clearly use a little assistance but was making a valiant effort at getting her two little children home by herself without going crazy.  Though she let out a few big sighs with the pep-talking subtext of "I can do this, I can do this, I can do this," she kept a smile on her face and a pleasant tone with her younger child, her daughter, who was causing the massive traffic jam for everyone trying to get on the L train at the busy station.  The little girl had apparently decided she was done walking.  Much like a dog being taken for a walk who just decides to sit on a corner, the little girl sat down on the stairs and started crying.  Her face turned red, tears streamed, and she wailed that she didn't want to walk anymore.  Her mom was already grappling with the little girl's stroller to get it down the steps while simultaneously trying to guide the girl's brother down the steps, too, so she was out of hands to carry the little girl.  Looking up the stairs and seeing the stagnated line of increasingly frustrated pedestrians backing up, the mom heaved a big sigh and said, "Okay, you're done walking, it's okay," and magically maneuvered pushing/ pulling/ dragging the stroller, keeping track of the brother, and carrying the little girl.  By the time the girl was heaved up into the mother's arms and had wrapped her little legs as far as they would go around the mom's back, everyone in the line in front of me had squished around the trio, leaving me face to face with the little girl.  And at that instant, as she hugged her arms around her mom's neck, she locked eyes with me, instantly stopped crying, gave me a big grin, and announced to me gleefully in a proud voice full of joy, "I got TWO rides today! I got TWO!" and then giggled.

If that mom thinks her hands are full now, she should just wait until that girl's a teen.  Something tells me that she'll be a handful then, too....