the most expensive and priceless piece of the hailey kidnapping kit

… er... the Hailey Safety Kit!  

I’m not a kidnapper.... I swear. Please don’t call the cops. Seriously, would a kidnapper tell the world they had a kidnapping kit? Would Dexter tell the world he had a kill kit? Well, if he wasn’t on TV. Her parents give her to me willingly. I always ask permission and I always give her back.

Anyway... the car seat. It’s such a pain switching car seats from car to car and I like to take Hailey for the afternoon or for the day whenever I can so I decided to get a car seat. A convertible one that is made for kids from 5 to 100 pounds... one car seat, years of kidnapping... crap, I mean safety! I got it on Craigslist (yes, I checked... it was never in an accident and it doesn’t expire until after she’ll outgrow it... yes... car seats expire now, like milk... who knew?!) Sometimes Craigslist deals don’t go well. But this one did. The people were great, the car seat is great, they even cleaned it for me.  

A week or so ago, I finally get a chance to use my new fancy schmancy car seat. The car seat and I get in the back of my Bug and a fight breaks out almost immediately. There’s yelling, cursing, blood, body parts being thrown against the glass (I thought the LATCH system was supposed to make this easier!)... but of course no one comes to my rescue because the windows are all fogged up so they figure why interrupt. But eventually, I win. I get that previously fancy schmancy now stupid effing car seat in rear facing so the little lady will be safe. The manual says it shouldn’t move more than about an inch in either direction at the belt path.... ok... got that. But I notice the top part... you know, the part that protects that sorta important part - the brain - wiggles like crazy! So much that if I were to be rear ended, there would be an excellent chance that there would be a baby face sandwich with two kinds of car seats for bread. Now would be a good time to point out that I am generally a pretty laid back person. But, I of course was a nervous wreck! Except that by that point, Hailey was there and was in need of transport and there was no one who could help me and nothing in the car seat manual (really?), so I wedged the top of her car seat between the head rest and seat of the front seat, buckled her in nice and snug and took back roads with my blinkers on for the less than 8 miles to her destination... freaking out the whole way.

Obviously, we made it there just fine. I mean really, who writes a story like this if something horrible happens? She slept... snorted when we went over a bump... I laughed about it later when I wasn’t so worried that she wasn’t safe.

The next day, I ask around... does this seem right to you? Do you think it should move this much? I ask other parents... they say their’s moves some, but not nearly that much... they’d turn it around considering that she is more than the minimum weight requirement and is just a couple weeks shy of the 1 year age requirement. So, I get back in the Bug yet again with the car seat. There’s even more cursing and blood this time, but I finally get the car seat unbuckled. I turn it around and it takes less than a minute to easily connect and tighten all connectors in the front facing position and I am confident the seat is safely buckled into the car. It’s back to being a great car seat. I look at all it’s fancy levers and cup/juice box holders with admiration... sorta like Clark W. Griswold when he’s sitting in the attic watching old filmstrips. I go on about my day.  

And then it hits me. Holy crap! What if those people saying you have to keep kids rear facing until they’re 37 know something I’m not thinking of? I know babies are incredibly flexible and resilient, but I don’t want to hurt her and I really don’t want to break her! So I ask more people... friends, family, coworkers, doctors, people with little ones, people who understand physics. I also look online... fantastic place to find information... except on this topic. I found NOTHING about moving tops of rear facing car seats. Seriously... hasn’t anyone ever tried to put a rear facing car seat in a small car with sporty shaped seats before?!!??!? REALLY!??? What, you can’t have a fun car and a safe small child too? This goes on for a couple days. This is a great place for a reminder that I am generally a very laid back person who thinks and prepares but knows there’s only so much you can do and the best you can do is the best you can do... good and bad are still going to and still need to happen. Most people agreed it looks safer for her to be to be front facing in this particular car seat in my particular car given her weight and age, but I’m still feeling a little uneasy. Finally it dawns on me to email the company that made the car seat with my concerns and the details. They promptly email me back and say that while many places recommend having a child rear facing until 2, they took the shape of the seats in my car into consideration along with her age and weight and it was not unsafe for her to ride front facing in my car. They also gave me a height measurement as well.

What a relief!!!!!!!!! (How many exclamation points is too many?)

I got to spend the whole day with Hailey on Monday (it’s so convenient that her day care and my job are both closed on federal holidays!) and it was gorgeous outside so I decided to take her to the park in the afternoon. While she took a nap in the morning, I was still thinking a little about the car seat so I got the tape measure out of my tool box and measured how tall she is... phew... more than tall enough! After lunch, I put her in the car seat all buckled in safe and sound and away we go on the first front facing trip of her life. As we drive along I hear the most amazed little “Whoooaa!”s coming out of the back seat! Around every corner is a whole new world her big beautiful blue eyes have never seen before! Instantly, all the worrying and stress and cuts and bruises and trouble I got into for asking people at work were worth it. The look of wonder on her face in the rear view mirror was priceless!!! (I didn't take this picture while we were driving... have I mentioned I'm concerned about her safety?) 

When we left the park, it was warm in the car so I put the windows down while the AC got up to speed, but before it got a chance, we drove off and the breeze hit Hailey’s face and she just giggled and giggled like only a baby can do. Another new experience for my front facing little lady and even more pricelessness for me!

When I was taking her home (see, not a kidnapper... returned to sender), I saw her watching out the window fighting sleep harder than I’ve ever seen any baby fight sleep. I just love to watch a child’s fascination... especially with the things adults don’t even notice or take for granted.

Little kids are awesome. Especially this one. :-)