3.20.2008

3 Down, 1 To Go...

In the words of William Wallace (Mel Gibson) while he was being tortured and having his small intestine pulled out of his conscious body... "FREEEEEEDOMMMMMMM!"

Emma learned how to put her own seat belt on today!

Now some of you may be saying to yourself "big stinking deal." But, this is in fact a big stinking deal! Do you know how long I have been buckling her in her car seat? For almost 5 years now. I have bras that are older than that...

It is me who is always the last person in the car because I am buckling various children in their safety seats. It is me who gets her hair blown by the gusty wind on our way to Church because I am buckling children in safety seats so that by the time we get to Church I look like I am a prostitute on the corner of 5th and Dodge and need to go to confession. It is me who gets a soaking wet back and butt because I am standing in the rain buckling little people in their safety seats. It is me who thinks that she is going to get car jacked while buckling these children in their seats because I am completely vulnerable with my back side to any criminal element that is out there!

But not anymore.

Emma has mastered the art of buckling herself in her booster seat and now I don't have to yell things like "Will you HURRY UP and get in your seat before my butt cheeks get frostbite!" or "Will you please stop hopping around and just get in your seat before the mall police ticket me for loitering!"

Now that she has met this milestone in her life, she now gets to face the "how fast can I buckle myself before my mother starts driving like a bat out of hell" obstacle.

Today she did rather well, she was securely buckled before we even got to the grocery store. I am sure within a week she will be buckled before we are out of the driveway.

She is a quick study.

10 comments:

Beth Cotell said...

I am chuckling at the image of her finally declaring she has her seat belt fastened and then looking up to discover you have pulled into the parking lot and it's time to unbuckle it!

Urban Mom said...

Oh that IS freedom! Congratulations! Perhaps Emma can come over and offer encouragement to my 4 1/2 yo...

Kristina said...

It was extremely frustrating to me when we moved from car seat to booster seat. The kid had just learned to buckle his own straps when he had to start buckling a seat belt. I think it took him 2 years. At that time, he was ready to move out of a booster seat. Oh well.

Chatty said...

A proud, proud moment. However, isn't the next thing the whining about how she's a big girl now, because she can buckle her own seatbelt - and therefore doesn't need a stinkin' booster seat?

Rob said...

Now that we have older kids they each are in charge of one younger child, so my wife and I no longer have to buckle them to much. Of course the kids forget sometimes and you get the occasional kid and car seat falling over while going around a corner.

regarding the running...no one was chasing me...it's just my addiction...I've had worse ones than this one in the past :)

Welcome to Great Goblets! said...

That made me laugh! It reminded me of the time (when my kids were still in public school before I got the crazy notion I wanted to be a homeschooler) and we were running late for school drop off. I slammed the Durango in reverse and basically peeled out of the garage only to hear a loud scrapping type sound. Seems my son wasn't fully in the vehicle, let alone strapped in, before I took off. The car door apparently wasn't shut either - hence the scrapping sound of door on concrete block garage wall. Not the sound you want to hear. At least my son had the good sense to throw himself into his seat quickly! =p

Anonymous said...

Wheeee!!!! Our older ones buckle the younger ones in. Congratulations!!!!

Anonymous said...

Yes, but now comes the joy of learning to unbuckle . . . and being yelled at to put the buckle back on!

finicky said...

It's comforting to read that others go through the same situations. My daughter can almost do it all by herself everytime. She will be five in June.

Anonymous said...

Yo. Seriously. I have an Emma, and she jus tlearned to buckle herself in too. It's heeeeeaaaavenly.