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Hey hey! I’m writing these Snippets on Thursday evening, crossing my fingers and saying a few prayers that FRIDAY will be the day that – at long last! – no one in this house is sick. It’s been a long, long, long, long week of fevers, headaches, hurling, and other unmentionables.
Nathan did go to school on Wednesday, and he seemed fine (he actually still feels fine, but once his sister hit Wave Two of the plague on Thursday I kept him home just to be safe). Feeling fine, though, and being tired are not mutually exclusive. I picked him up at school, drove about three blocks, glanced back at him and saw this:
At least he made it into the car, unlike that other time.
(And just to be clear, because I’ve gotten the question a couple of times before, he IS in a booster seat. Our car has integrated boosters so they blend.)
At the start of our week-long bout with the plague, Sarah Kate and I perused ye ol’ Netflix and decided to try out the pilot episode of Once Upon a Time. We decided we liked it enough to keep going, and as of this writing we’re all the way through Season 1 and a few episodes into Season 2. I am officially mad at all of you who watch this show and never told me about it.
Kidding, of course, but we do like it. The special effects are pitiful and the dialogue is pretty cheesy at times during the flashbacks, but it’s a lot of fun and definitely different. I appreciate that even the “evil” characters have some depth to them, but NOT enough to excuse their evil doings.
(Note to my mom: I know you have Netflix. Watch the first three episodes. Trust me.)
We all have to be well by Sunday because that’s Feast Day and, let me tell you, after many long weeks of this year’s meatless Lent, Mr. Andi and I are oh-so-ready for a big ol’ hamburger. Or steak. Even a chicken finger would be nice. Although last Sunday’s Feast Day didn’t turn out so hot – the food was delicious going in around 4:00 pm but not so hot later on … in the middle of the night.
As a result of The Great 2015 Meatless Lent Commitment, hereafter Five Guys shall always be equated in my mind with lenten sacrifices. I’ve had a Five Guys burger Every. Single. Sunday. during Lent this year, and Mr. Andi has eaten it every Sunday save one. Little Bacon Cheeseburger – ketchup, mustard, lettuce.
But moving on from our family’s stomachs, our family joke o’ the week is to express our devotion to each other by saying, “F U,” which I promise is not nearly as bad as it seems. Recently, Nathan started spontaneously telling us he loves us. A few days ago he was smiling at Sarah Kate and he started speaking and, as he usually does, he was taking his sweet time with each syllable. We thought he was saying letters, as he’d been spelling his name not long before, when he said F…..U…..C…..
We all held our breath as he turned and looked at each of us, a twinkle in his eye. Then it dawned on me: “F” wasn’t “F” but sounded more like “of” which is how he sometimes pronounces “love.”
F-U-C = Love-You-Sissy
Have you seen Simcha’s post on prom? Can I possibly get an amen on that one? Call me an old fuddy-duddy if you want, but she makes a lot of sense.
Have a great weekend!
This post was inspired by and is linked to This Ain’t the Lyceum’s 7 Quick Takes.
So there’s a five guys about….oh……half a mile from my house. I’ve never been there. Are you telling me I should go? 🙂 🙂 🙂
Once has its moments. One thing that drives me nuts is how the villains overexcuse things–the whole Snow White/Regina thing in “the past” drives me crazy. They’re doing that a bit now in season 4, but not as much, I don’t think.
Um…do you like burgers? Unless the answer is no, get thee to Five Guys!
I do like burgers. 🙂 🙂 Burgers are my friend!!!!
Of course it has to be a FRIDAY….sigh. No burgers today!
I know you made a point of saying Nathan is in a booster seat in this picture, but I have to say something for his safety. The belt that crosses his chest should NEVER be near his neck as it is the picture! If you were to be in an accident at the time of that photo, he could be injured. He evidently is still too small for this booster. The chest strap should cross between is two chest muscles and across his shoulder joint….and stay there. He appears to be slumped down in the seat too, with the lap belt too high on his belly. That belt should cross his hip bones. He may need a different system to keep him properly protected in your car. Please fix this!
It doesn’t need fixing. The seat fits him just fine. He wiggled down in the seat on his own because he was tired, and went to sleep. If I hadn’t cropped out the bottom of the photo it would be obvious. I keep an eye on him in the car – otherwise, I wouldn’t have known he had fallen asleep within three blocks of his school. Three blocks, by the way, down a slow residential street with little traffic and no cross traffic at all. He’s fine.
I know you’re not looking for an argument, but what happens when you are traveling a long distance in this car and he falls asleep, slumped down?? Same thing, I assume. Do you keep driving?? The fact he can wiggle down into this dangerous position, is proof that this type of child restraint isn’t right for him. He needs a belt between his legs then, to keep him in a safe position. And the whole “we’re close to home, on a slow, safe road” excuse doesn’t work for me. About a month ago I drove by a car accident with a trap covering one vehicle…in my neighboring town. The man inside was dead. He was just a couple blocks from home. Not his fault. Most accidents occur close to home.
Okay, I’ll bite one more time, mostly because I think you are earnest in your assertions rather than just trolling me. His seat is fine, I promise. It fits him well across the lap and the belt doesn’t typically touch his neck. When we travel, he is almost always sitting in the back with his older sister who is willing and able to assist if needed, and I am more than willing (and have) to stop the car to make adjustments when needed.
But since we’re presumably having a conversation regarding an issue of concern, rather than an argument, I will ask you to consider one thing: there is absolutely no seat, model of car, or other precaution that you or I can take to protect a child that 100% guarantees he or she won’t be injured while riding in a car (other than, of course, not riding in one). Most accidents – and not just the vehicular variety – do occur close to home, because that’s where we spend most of our time.
You can choose to believe that I am concerned for my son’s safety and do what I can to protect him, or you can choose to believe that I’m negligent and/or uninformed. What you can’t do is determine with any certainty whether or not you’re correct because you saw one small (literal) snapshot in time, and I’d ask you to consider that a woman who has spent the last twelve years in and out of therapy clinics, doctors’ office, and hospitals with her two children should be given the benefit of the doubt about her son’s booster seat.
I hate being that person who continues an argument, and I never, ever engage in online bickering, especially over things that are really none of my business BUT, a few years ago we were involved in an accident where our 12 passenger van was hit by another car while we were stopped at a red light half a mile from home. I had 10 people in my van between my kids and my sister’s and the only people not injured were the kids in a five point harness, I was so incredibly grateful that I had recently decided to keep my 5 year old in a car seat rather than move her to a seat belt and booster when she reached 40 lbs. Riding in a car is always a risk but now that there are car seats that harness to 60 or even a 100 pounds why would you not make your child as safe as possible when it is such a simple thing.
Instead of me answering the questions, how about I ask one instead: Why do you drive a 12 passenger van? They have a much higher rate of rollover than other options, most don’t have adequate head support in the event of a crash, the more people in a vehicle, the more likely it is that the driver will be distracted, and so on. Why would you not choose the safest possible vehicle model when it is such a simple thing?
You don’t have to answer, of course. My point is that I don’t have to defend my choices, made with thoughtful consideration of my own family’s circumstances, to blog commenters, and those commenters don’t have to defend their own choices to me.
And in case that doesn’t make my point clear enough, I’ll add my own “car seat” anecdote: awhile back, my sister-in-law posted a photo of her 15 mo granddaughter, who has club foot, in a Facebook group in her very first pair of shoes. She was immediately blasted by multiple people because they felt the car seat she was pictured in didn’t fit her properly. The problem with their assumptions? It was a stroller.
One photo doesn’t show the whole picture.
I thought of these comments last night, as I was driving home with my two children. My son, almost 15yo and 5’7″ tall in the front seat. My daughter, 11yo, 5’5″ in the backseat (in other words, both taller than me, the driver). We were driving home on the Interstate from a busy evening at our local amusement park. Noticing that it was very quiet in the car, it was obvious that both were asleep. My son was slumped down in the seat, much like Nathan in his booster seat. My daughter (when I was finally able to look), was slumped to the side, with her head resting in her hand, being held up by her elbow on the armrest.
My point is, kids (and adults) fall asleep in cars and yes, the seat belt sometimes hits around the neck. My own self, being wide awake, alert, and driving the car, sometimes find that the seat belt has ridden up on me. Based on the comments above, should my children and I all be in booster seats, or 5-point-harnesses, as well? It’s very easy to make snap judgements based on one picture, caught in one second of time, but I’m sure the same could be done to each and every one of us, as well.