Battle With a Car Seat

Going ANYWHERE today was a hassle. I'm not kidding.... It all started with getting dressed this morning.

I have this thing, where I require my 2 daughters to pick out their daily outfits the night before. This mitigates any major fight during the weekday morning preparations, or so I thought. Last night, I cleared the "outfit" with Dagny's assured approval. Maybe she suffers from short-term memory loss, but she adamantly refused to wear last nights' approved clothing this morning. Instead, we spent a good 15 minutes negotiating a new shirt, new pants & socks. Then, we negotiated brushing her hair and her teeth. Fortunately, her hair is still thin and wispy, so missing the hairbrushing exercise was not a huge deal. I must have short-term memory loss too. Valerie has never been an "easy" child, but I sure as hell don't remember THIS much trouble.

Next step, we made it through vitamins, poptarts, toast, juice & milk without too much of a fuss. Then, it was time to find shoes and coats, attempt to put them on and settle ourselves in the car to arrive at preschool in a timely fashion. Mind you, if we don't arrive at school prior to 8:55 am, the kids are forced to sit in the preschool director's office. Now, the preschool director is a plump woman, who means very well. However, the abrupt tone of her voice tends to scare my children, let alone myself. So, the lesson is: DON'T BE LATE TO SCHOOL! Otherwise, I am forced to sit with my sniffling kids in the plump woman's office listening to her shrill voice describing her latest and greatest weight-loss program. I digress...

We were in the process of getting into the car this morning. Dagny decided to climb into the SUV on her own. As I saw her cute 22 month-old legs and bum rise upto the floor of the back seat, I smiled & thought, "Wow, my baby is growing up and becoming independent. Woo hoo... that life of my own, is just around the corner." Mama ate those words as quickly as they flew though my head. Once Dagny successfully made it to the floor of the car's backseat, I picked her up to buckle her into that damn car seat. No, she did NOT want me to do this. She was intent on proving that this was NOT going to happen. She wanted to do it on her own, apparently. And, boy is that kid strong! As she arched and stretched and yanked and screamed, it was really a struggle to get her in that seat and to successfully buckle the straps. Fortunately, I correctly anticipated the biting and hitting attempts. A few days ago, I wasn't so lucky. I literally got nailed down the front of my face and have a scab to prove it. This time, I survived the battle, unscathed.

Across the seat, Valerie patiently waited for me to finish with Dagny to buckle her into her booster seat. Valerie announced, "Dagny, if you don't sit in your car seat like a good girl, the cops will come and take you away!" I nearly fell down laughing, mostly out of embarrassment. I guess I have to be careful with the delivery of my statements - Valerie has turned into my little parrot. I wonder what other goofy statements of mine she's recited. Fortunately, we made it to school without anyone getting hurt, no one was late and there were no weight-loss tips learned.

All of this occurred before 9am. The rest of the day was not much better. As we returned from school, attended gymnastics and returned home for the final trip, we endured Dagny's carseat battle at each leg of the journey.

This evening, I considered discussing this frustrating event with my mother. However, how could she relate? The only car seat my brother, sister and I used was my mother's hand, swinging out to protect us each time she slammed on the breaks. Heck, we used to just hang out the car windows, probably even on the highway. So, as a law-abiding citizen, I struggle with my kids to sit properly in their car seats for their protection. Yes, I worry about their safety. But on days like today, I can't help but think that the closest thing to danger these kids will encounter is ME if they don't get in their damn car seats!

Maybe tomorrow we will have the time and I will have the patience to allow her to get herself into her carseat. Then again, it would be easier if we just stayed home!