Anyone else out there have the car seat blues?  I mean some REAL car seat issues?  Where it takes 15-20 minutes to get in the car to go anywhere?  Well I do!

Even as an infant Maddie didn’t like the car seat.  I would strap her in and drive to the grocery store, a few minutes into the ride she would be screaming!  Hello! I thought most babies fell asleep in the car.  Driving is supposed to be my time off!  The motion of the car is supposed to be my baby sitter.  I need this time to think for myself!  C’mon the screaming has got to stop!

I digress, anyway the screaming doesn’t stop and I pull over to check it out.  Did I pinch her skin in the buckle?  Is it too tight?  What else could it be?  Been there right?

Everything always checks out ok – and I am on my way again.  The baby, who settled down, is crying again – even louder!  I can’t stand it.  I pull over again!  A ten minute ride is now doubled.  There is nothing wrong with the car seat.  And I finally realize this child does NOT like the car.  Yikes!

Fast forward a few years.  We have bought the most expensive, pink seat to appease a little girl who obviously doesn’t like the car.  We have had fancy fabric covers specially made to cover the “straps” and the buckle.  We have purchased several portable DVD players, sometimes having to hold it for her to see, as we drive along.  We have bought a new car with more leg room and a built in TV/DVD player (stocked with hours of new movies).  Our car becomes a moving diner car with all kinds of treats and candy.  We have done it all! 

Every day it continues…as we get in the car I hear “It is too tight!”  “It is twisted!”  “My dress hurts!”  “It is too tight again and again!” and on and on.  Tears are shed (from me too!) and the kicking and screaming are loud!  I thought this would go away with age.  But it hasn’t.  My husband and friends do not realize this happens every day, every car trip!  Every time we get in the car…it is a battle to buckle up her seatbelt.  So bad that it really makes you think…Do I need to go out?  Do I need to pick up milk?  I am lucky we actually get anywhere at all!

We are 3.5 pounds away from the “perfect” booster seat.  I am a stickler for rules!  So I feed Maddie like crazy - but it could take years to gain that needed 3.5!  We keep trying…At our dinner table you may here us say “if you don’t finish your dinner you won’t get to move to a booster seat!”  It is a threat much better than “you need to eat your dinner to have a cookie!” 

The really bad news?  My 1 year old son is now mimicking some of these car seat behaviors!  How do I stop this?  Oh I have the car seat blues!