Wednesday, October 4, 2006

Front-facing

As I've stated in a previous entry, Reilly has had some difficulty adjusting to the car seat. By "difficulty" I mean that she cries from the moment I put her in it until the moment I remove her. Sometimes I can bribe her to be quiet with some goldfish crackers or some cheerios, but for the most part, driving with Reilly in the car is torture. I've tried playing her favorite CD, I've tried singing to her, I've even tried drowning her out. Nothing really works.

Both Shawn and I have postulated that the reason she gets pissed off in the car seat is because she is facing the rear of the car. For those who don't know, you are supposed to face a child to the rear of the car until she is 12 months old or 20 pounds, whichever comes last. As you all are aware, Reilly is closing in on 15 months, but she is also only in the 4th percentile for weight, so we've been patiently waiting for her to hit the 20 pound milestone.

I've considered feeding her doughnuts to get her to put on weight (worked for me).

The other day, grandma Donna took Reilly to the local grocery store. When she returned, she pronounced that Reilly was 21 pounds fully clothed. When I asked her how she came to this measurement, she stated that she had weighed Reilly on the Publix scale. The accuracy of said scale withstanding, I decided that was enough for me.

Yesterday, I turned Reilly's car seat around in the backseat and clipped her in. I drove to the playground. She did not cry. When I tilted the rearview mirror to see if she was still awake, she looked right at me and smiled. Later, when I checked her again, she was staring out the window. Turning around the car seat has transformed my devil baby back into her little sweet self, and has turned her harried, grumpy driver daddy back into his NPR loving, safe driving self.

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