And Two Seats On The Short Bus, Please

Connor is extremely proud of his move from an infant car seat to his convertible car seat. I've seen him making eye contact with other babies as we drive down the road. Instead of being embarassed, he now holds his head high as if to say, "Hey, look at me. I'm big. I'm over 20 pounds so I'm in a big seat. You are just a little thing in your teency-weency infant car seat. I bet you can't even sit up by yourself."

There are good things and there are bad things about the transition to a bigger car seat. The bad: it's another expensive gadget and you now have to get TWO car seats because you don't move this item from car to car on a regular basis and - - this one can fall into both the "good" and "bad" categories - - you have to actually carry the baby in and out of wherever you are going (you are now repeatedly strapping him into his car seat when you get into the car, unstrapping him when you get to your destination, strapping him again when you leave). The good? Well, he gets to keep this car seat for a while (up to 65 pounds) and it faces forwards AND backwards. It also appears to be a bit more comfortable and has a nice recline feature. So there is hopefully more sleep involved.

All of that being said, you must realize that I have no fear. I will face any task head-on and figure it out as I go. So, I took Connor with me to the grocery store last week. I couldn't help but laugh as we cruised through Kroger because not only was he still in his PJ's at 2pm but he was WAY too small for the front of the shopping cart. I had to lean in and hold onto him as we went through the store to make sure that he didn't fall out. He did spit up at one point and, well, I didn't worry about cleaning it up. And maybe I should have. I just didn't think that I could manage Connor not being in his infant car seat (translation: me holding him in my arms), cleaning spit-up off of the floor, and maintaining any type of composure. Naah, it wasn't worth the risk. So the spit-up remained and off we went.

Two days later, Dennis risked everything as he attempted another grocery store trip with Connor. He had an extra weapon, though, which I am sure helped him out a lot.

There are many days when I wonder why I never had to ride the short bus. I guess it's never too late, and I can rest easy because I know Dennis will be on there, too.

Our job as parents, I guess, is to help Connor AVOID having to ride next to us. Maybe it's too late for that...