Today's lesson... (Updated)

Let's say you are planning a trip and you decide, after much debate to take your good carseat. You arrived at said decision reluctantly, after your husband informed you that another Britax car$eat was not in the budget. You then look at your Alpha Omega and you know your precious cargo will not be comfortable in that carseat. That is why it has been sitting in your garage for ten months. See, for all your failings, you know your compact bundle of joy is a bear when uncomfortable. Silly, but you do not want a bear for eleven days. Not when that bear and her big bear brother keep reminding you that they will chose your care in your old age. You then realize that the carseat cover needs to be washed. For the love of Br*an B0itano, do not wait until the last moment to tackle that task.

We had the B installed last September. Our local CHP office and bank held a kids safety fair. We had SS digitally fingerprinted and her cute mugshot taken. All we had to do is fill in the blanks in the document, just in case. That turned out to be a smart move. Given the recent activity in our laptops, those prints will come in handy when Interpol comes knocking on our door.

After the fingerprinting Officer Samson and Officer Goliath installed our carseat. Ironically, I had participated in yet another carseat training months before our referral. Well aware of my lack of mechanical ability (and how P almost had a stroke installing the AO), I decided to let the beefy dudes do the hard work. Had I known that writing speeding tickets and driving around in a souped up car was good for my body, I would have joined the force in my early years. Once we saw those dudes break a sweat and put their body weight on the carseat, we knew that it would be a cold day in hell when we would willingly remove it. Welcome to our cold day in hell. BTW, we had seen many videos on You T.u.b.e about installation, and it seemed a breeze. Heh.

SS has taken to play with her sippy cup when she is bored in the car. That means some milk and juice spillage that had to be removed. We probably could have skipped the washing, but Abu is a clean freak (totally OCD) and would have done it herself. That is why at 5:50 this morning, I was in the van, trying to figure out how to remove SS's carseat. P could have remained in bed an extra hour, but took pity on me and came outside, shirtless and shoeless, to help me out. This, after SS decided to party in our bed at 2:30 a.m. I was about to finally fall asleep, when I heard SS call out for us. She did not go back to sleep, again, until 4:30 a.m. I am sleeping so much that it is embarrassing. Sigh.

Of course the cover must be hand washed, and hung to dry. Thankfully we are expecting a high of 104, and dry heat. Then the fun of rinsing it off dawned on me. P came to my rescue again, and it took both of us to wring it properly. He wistfully commented that they should make tampons out of that material, then women would need only one for their entire cycle. He tends to wax philosophical early in the morning. We have had really lows, just like anyone who has been together for fifteen years. But he somehow manages to make me laugh when I least expect it.

Today I have a lot of errands to run and no carseat. I grudgingly got the AO from the garage, just in case the cover is not dry by noon. We found a video Online about removing the cover and it was quite the undertaking. P does not even want to contemplate installing the AO, but we must have a plan B. The funny thing is that the AO has the same safety rating (as of last year) as the B, but they are light years apart in terms of comfort.

Off to do laundry I go.

*********************** Update***********************
It is going to take all day for the seat cover to dry. P successfully installed the now less cr@ppy AO. A year ago, he installed the carseat the day before we departed, at 5:00 p.m., in 100+ degree weather, knowing that we would return jet lagged and with a child. No pressure. :)

When I purchased the seat, the sign at C0stco claimed that it was suitable for 5-100 lbs. I should have read the manual, but failed to do so. Today I read the sticker on the side, and rear facing it is for children over one year, 22-40 lbs. AND 34 to 43 inches in height. Gee, no wonder it was a bust, since SS was not even 20 lbs when we came home and she reached 33 1/2 inches last March.

Why did we buy the carseat so late? Because our Britax delivery was delayed.

P's handiwork:

SS and Daisy. Our dainty little flower is not happy because she wanted me to place the wet cover on her carseat. Little one, get used to change because you have loads of it coming up.