Don't we all feel better now?
When I was pregnant, I read at my chiropractor's office that 50% of all kids have fallen from at least the height of a changing table. I remember thinking, "What kind of irresponsible parent lets that happen?!" Ah, the innocence of the non-parent...
I loved the stories, BTW. I don't know which one was funnier (in restrospect, of course): chewing on the razor, brushing teething with yeast infection cream, or being chased by a wildebeast and having to jump into a moving car like the Duke Boys. And I'm now living in fear of abandoning my child at school when it's not actually in session.
Thanks for the stories. We should probably all bookmark that post for when we start driving by ourselves in the future...
(Oh, and to anon, who asked about putting car seats in the back seat, AFAIK, it's about 1) the airbags, and 2) crash tests that have shown conclusively that it's way safer to have the seats in the back. Kids aren't supposed to be sitting in the front seat until they're a certain age and weight anyway, because the back seat is just safer. Same reason you're not supposed to flip the convertible car seat around until you absolutely have to--it's just so much safer for them to be facing the rear, even though they like facing front a lot more.)
I enjoyed the stories too.
On the car seat note, we had ours inspected by the "certified car seat cops" or whatever they're really called - people who go through a bunch of training to know exactly how they should be.
Anyway, she told me something I'd never heard before. In a frontal collision, a rear facing carseat is designed to fold up, creating a cocoon between the carseat and the back seat to shield baby. If the car seat were to be installed in the front seat where there is a front airbag, the airbag could deploy and push the car seat up and toward the back of the front seat in the wrong position or smother or otherwise injure a front facing seat.
And, she did say that rearfacing is safest for infants.
Posted by: Mandy | March 03, 2005 at 07:23 PM
That reminds me-- I was about 5 mos pregnant with my first when I visited with my friend's baby . I don't remember how old she was, but she wasn't crawling or getting around. And she had a scratch/bruise/thing on her foot, and I asked my friend about it and my friend had no idea where it had come from.
And I thought to myself, "How could you not know? The kid doesn't MOVE, how could she get into something and you not know???" I was so smug, so all-knowing.
Uh, yeah. Until I was with a little one 24-7 and unable to account for these things. Then suddenly I was less judgemental, lol.
Posted by: Melanie | March 04, 2005 at 01:06 PM
I feel like I owe an apology to a woman I stared down in a department store many moons ago. She had two rambunctious little boys with her, and one almost knocked over a clothing display. She yanked him up by his arm and I know I gave her the evil eye. She just snarled at me and said, "You don't have children, do you?" I thought to myself, no, but I wouldn't do that to them if I did!
Bwahahahahahahaha! Oh, how the mighty have fallen...
Posted by: Becki | March 04, 2005 at 02:58 PM