Last week (or the week before?) at a play date, Vivienne loved the cardboard building blocks. So after the babies took their afternoon nap today , I piled us all in the van to traipse down to Fuquay-Varina to buy some blocks from someone off of Craigslist. I always forget how long it takes to get all the way down there.
On the way home, we stopped by Walmart to make a return and pick up a few things. As we were exiting the store, I noticed that it had started raining. I ran across the parking lot with Miles in the shopping cart and Vivienne clinging to me in the Ergo. Both babies were giggling with delight, because this is not the way that Mommy usually moves across a parking lot. (It was actually a really sweet moment of fun in the rain for us.) The new automatic doors on my van came in super-handy in our mad dash through the rain.
When I got to the van, I plopped Vivienne in her seat and ran around to the other door to put Miles in his seat. I buckled him in and then unloaded the shopping cart quickly. I jumped into the driver's seat and away we went.
On the way home, Vivienne was crying. She was crying a lot. Vivienne does not cry a lot. I was assuming that she was crying because she was tired of being in that seat all the way down to FV and then home again. (It was probably about a hour in that seat, including a stop at a friend's house to pick something up and the trip to Walmart as well.) I kept talking to her and singing to her and making funny noises. Nothing seemed to soothe her.
When I got home and hit the button to automatically open her door (thank you, swagger wagon), I realized what the problem was. She was almost completely sideways slumped down in her seat with her legs hanging off the side. In my haste to get us out of the rain, I failed to buckle her up. Nice. I drove about 5 miles with my baby girl bouncing around in her car seat and contorting herself into positions that she cannot get herself out of.
Thank God we got home safely.
*sigh*
Tomorrow, I'm going to install the mirrors that I used to have in the Rav4 so that I can see them while I drive.
Man, I know the feeling of absolute horror when you realize you just put your child's life in danger. I think it's life's way of telling us to slow down. So glad it turned out all right.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the honesty :) I accidentally went for a jog without buckling mine into the jog stroller a few months ago. I cried when I got home and realized it, and cried about every time I thought of it for a while. I actually try not to think of all the things that could have happened, but boy am I meticulous about checking their straps now! So glad it was a short trip and all are safe.
ReplyDeleteI understand your horror. Happened to me once too. Best thing to do is just keep moving forward and learn from your oversights. You are not the first and will not be the last to do something like that ~ we mommies are human too.
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