Patty can get out of the car all by herself now!
For the past three mornings, Patty has carefully opened her door and climbed out of the car at school. With no incident, I'm happy to add. I even got a thumbs up from Mr. W this morning. And for the past three mornings I have pulled away from the school bursting with pride with a gigantic smile on my face.
This milestone probably won't be on any list you'll find, but maybe it should be. For me, it ranks right up there with first steps and first words. It's monumental. It's completely changing the way we do things. This milestone has been a really big deal for me.
You see, we had an experience, way back when JT was a baby that frightened me nearly to death. He opened his door in traffic one day, on a four lane high way. He was barely one at the time, but I remember it like it happened yesterday. All of a sudden the interior light was on and the ding sounded and I had one of those "what the...." moments as I looked into my side mirror seeing his door opening. I was scared to death. I was able to pull over into a turning lane, thanks very much to the folks behind me who no doubt saw what was happening and slowed down to accommodate me. And obviously he was safely buckled into his car seat and wasn't in a huge amount of danger. I mean, his arms were short, he wasn't going to be able to get the door open very far. But, that experience was scary enough to keep the child locks firmly in place for all the time since.
And for all these years, Patty has never bothered with the child lock on her door. JT, on the other hand, learned months ago what that little switch is for and proceeded to flip it whenever he could. Go figure. Eventually, I gave up trying to keep his door on child lock. We haven't had any incidents with doors opening in traffic, but I've had to scold him many times in parking lots. It was definitely time to give Patty the same freedom. I guess this is just one of the many fears I'll have to "let go" as the kids get older and more independent. It's not easy. It's really not easy. But, if I didn't worry, what kind of parent would I be?
I can see your point in that! It is a huge accomplishment! And don't get me started on all the milestones we celebrate that aren't in any of the books. We have to create our own milestones.
ReplyDeleteI was just wondering about the child lock in your car. Does that mean you kids can turn it off at any given moment by themselves? In my car the child lock can only be turned off by me, it is located in the driver's door.
there's a little slide switch on the side of the car door, when the door is closed you can't get to it, you can only change it when the door is open. jt started to slide it to "off" as he got in or out of the car a few months ago. sometimes i would see him or hear the click, but sometimes i didn't realize it until we were at our destination and he was getting out of the car! i wish my car was setup like yours!
DeleteOh, I see, my former car had this kind of child lock, too. The new one has an electronically one which also prevents the kids from opening the windows by themselves.
Deletei do have a window lock button my door! maybe i should blog about the time JT released a bunch of paper towels out his window as we drove down the parkway! looking back it's kind of funny, at the time not so much!
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