Katherine, we passed
a milestone moment in your life! One of those events that we have been
anticipating for a while, discussing when you would be ready for it… and
dreading a bit (it involved a fair amount of work and we didn’t know how you’d
react): turning your car seat forward facing.You see, for the past 2 years – ever since we brought you home from the hospital – you have been riding the in the back of the car rear-facing. But the time has come (partially dictated by the length of your legs) to turn your car seat around and let you ride facing forward.
And I have to admit, we had been procrastinating a bit – turning your car seat in our car is not as easy as it sounds as your car seat fits very snug into our car. After you had outgrown your infant seat, we let you help choose your seat… and you picked a “luxury size” seat which daddy installed back then with much sweat and “a little bit resistance from chair and car” and he wasn’t looking forward to doing it all over again, this time forward facing. But a few days ago, he handed you to me and scurried out to the garage. When he re-surfaced a while later with a triumphant grin we both knew that he had “won the fight with the car seat” and we were ready for your first trip “like a big girl”.
After a moment
of surprise when we buckled you in, you were delighted and giggling as we began
to drive, enjoying the new & improved view… until we got the first red
light. You don’t like ‘em. And you are very outspoken about it – letting out
little screams and waiving both arms. So we explained to you that the red light
means we need to stop, and once the light turns green, we can go again. We have
explained to you that the red light means stop and we need to wait until it
turns great at every single light we had to stop, every day, every car ride
since you are driving with us forward facing and there will be likely much more
of that in our future. You love to go, not stop, not wait – the faster, the
better. I can already see that one day
you will enjoy a fast ride on the German Autobahn!
You are teaching
me that it’s much more fun waiting at a red light when we waive our arms wildly…
and cheer when the light turns green. Every part of life is more fun when it
becomes a game and we don’t take it so seriously. Thank you for that reminder. I
love you always and forever.
