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Today I got yelled at by someone outside of my family
Getting a new car seat and rearranging the seats in the car(s) can be a bit of a hassle. One of our cars is a teeny, little Civic http://automobiles.honda.com/civic/ . Though it's a few years old, it is great on gas and thoroughly dependable. However, it's no place for two small kids and their massive car seats. We are doing a lot of rigging and weight loss surgeries right now.
So, D (husband), went to everyone's favorite French store and bought a car seat yesterday. To be honest, I don't think I've ever been able to install a rear-facing seat. But I gave it the Girl Scout try. Installing a car seat is kind of like DIY plumbing. Yes, you could probably do it, but it will take you 20 times longer to do than having a real plumber come in and flip two switches, screw something down, plunge the handle and be gone in five minutes ("$150, please!") I eventually turned that bad boy around so it would face front, hooked it in there, used the seat belt to strap it in, put him (4.5 months old) in it and drove very carefully to Rex http://www.rexhealth.com/Services_and_Wellness/Index_of_Services/Birth_Center/ . My hero car installer at Rex is awesome, but I'm going to insert a heads-up right here in case you decide to visit him. Be VERY, VERY patient. He's a native, I think. He takes his time and has lots to say.
So, my car installing hero (Chris), didn't waste any time yelling at me about driving with the baby facing front. Before he even looked in the car, I started tap dancing. He was merciless. I started to get a bit annoyed. It ain't like I drove around for two weeks like this with the kid half hanging out of the seat. I put the baby in there as carefully as I could. I waited until everyone was at work (mid-morning) and drove carefully and DIRECTLY to the hospital. What else could I do? Finally I asked him if I should have called him so he could come to my house and put it in? That was the end of his tirade.
My car seat is now installed properly. These two monkeys are going to be sitting very closely in the back seat now. Unfortunately, I'm a little concerned that Monkey 1 (consistently up to no good, let's just say...) will release the seat belt latch and unhook Monkey 2 (small and innocent, so far...) so that his car seat goes flying around while D is driving along and not paying attention. I need to find a way to conceal the closure thingy so she doesn't push the button. I'm thinking...
Can you believe that car seats are a relatively new invention? It wasn't that long ago when kids were just all over the place while the parents drove. On long trips, I would get car sick. So, after a bit of Dramamine, I'd sleep in the little well behind my dad's seat all curled up on the floor. No chance that would happen anymore.
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If you ask nicely, my mom will tell you the story of how I cut my first tooth in South Dekota. And, If I am sitting near by, she will look at me with mouth down turned, making tisking noises while slowly shaking her head from side to side, as if the whold thing was my fault. It seems that, rather than sit in her lap in the front seat of a sedan travleling 60 on the interstate at night, I recklessly decided to practice flying at the exact moment my father had to slam on the breaks to avoid a large bear in the middle of the road. She'll also tell you that I was danged lucky I only cut a tooth when my mouth slammed into the dash.
I guess I have the car seat purchased 38 years ago to blame for the fact that I never did learn to fly.
Everybody has a story. When my younger son lost his front tooth by diving into the fireplace, everybody had a knocked-out-tooth story. When the older one put his arm through a window, everybody had a going-through-a-window story. So we probably all have a running-loose-in-the car story.
In the pre-carseat days, my toddler sister decided to climb from the back seat to the front seat -- in a convertible -- around the OUTSIDE of my mom in the passenger seat. My dad reaching out to grab her at the last second saved her from being splatted on the highway.