Arch Nemesis

This is Kylea's car seat.

It's was carefully selected before the baby was born. It received excellent reviews, had the best safety rating and is compatible with the jogging stroller we wanted.  It's one downfall is the baby HATES it.  This rancorous relationship has existed from day one, she has ALWAYS screamed at the very top of her tiny lungs when she has to go in there. 

We see a very practical, safe car seat.  

But Kylea sees this.......

THE CAR SEAT MONSTER!!!!! She has officially declared him public enemy number one and her most dastardly arch nemesis.

We have tried EVERYTHING to get her accustomed to the car seat and convinced that she is not going to die whilst riding in it but nothing has worked.  We have developed a few techniques that make short rides possible (usually) but longer car rides are completely out of the question.  Unless we ever decide that we don't care about our sanity or our baby.

It may seem like I'm being dramatic, but I'm really not. For instance, I decided to venture out on a slightly more extensive adventure with Kylea by myself to test the waters. Since she is now older and handling many things with much more composure I was hoping that we had finally vanquished our most detested foe.  The ride began without a hiccup, but after a few wrong turns my short adventure became longer and my little baby's composure began to crumble. 

Kylea is smiley, bubbley and wonderful 95% of the time, sort of cranky 4% of the time and in wild meltdown mode about 1% of the time.  It doesn't happen often but her meltdowns are epic, to say the least. They usually involve changing colors, screaming so hard that no sound comes out, gasping, coughing, choking (yes baby heimlich maneuver has been necessary), and worst of all grabbing her face which leaves scratch marks all over her sweet little face.

This particular adventure included all the aforementioned drama.  All my attempts to calm her just sent her swirling even deeper into her vortex of hysteria.  After nearly wrecking at least 5 times (it's distracting having her cry like that) we finally reached our destination.  I sprinted like a cheetah to her door and unbuckled her and just like magic, she was fine.  So we proceeded on, me with edgy nerves and baby with tear stained face and hiccups.  We had a nice time at our destination.  Then the same drama ensued on the drive home.

Is it any wonder that I hardly get out of the house?  Seriously, the mere thought of taking her somewhere by myself gives me anxiety.  Come to think of it, I think the carseat monster is my arch nemesis too.

Well carseat, this means war.....