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Probably an App for That
We are expecting a new great-grand in April, so I got out my knitting needles. Buddy and I walked over to the knitting store in town to pick out yarn and pattern. There was this little book of instructions for “Car Seat Blankets.” Really? Did anyone know about this? My kids all had a special blanket, but it was a one-size-fits-every-occasion blanket. I never knew about car seat blankets. But then, our oldest child never had a car seat, so I guess we didn’t need one of these.
She did have a blanket, though. Unlike today’s babies, she didn’t spend that much time in the car, but the blanket followed her everywhere. After the binding came loose, she stuck her arm through it like a bracelet so she wouldn’t have to lay it down and pick it up; it was always right there behind her. When I washed it and hung it on the line to dry, she stood in the yard holding on to the corner, thumb in mouth, waiting for it to dry and return to ground zero. After a couple years (baby #2) we got a dryer. She vibrated in front of the dryer waiting for Blankey to come out. Blankey got smaller because I took scissors to the frayed edges. “Blankey needs a haircut today,” I’d tell her. When she started kindergarten, she was ready to give up her friend Blankey forever. By this time, it was just about the same size as the little car seat blanket I’ve knitted for the new baby, who is her first grandchild.
The lady in the knitting store wasn’t familiar with the car seat blanket idea either, but she said she could see why today’s babies might need one. “In fact,” she said, “they probably should keep one in every car.” She said her grand babies each had three luggage bags apiece, kept packed and ready. One was for the day care, one for the after-day care babysitter, one is for shopping/errands, and the older one has one for preschool as well. They keep the spares in the other car, just in case. She said they have food packed in it like astronauts use. “They just squeeze the food out and not mess up the car,” she said. I guess they’ll be ready for the next hurricane evacuation.
In the days of one car, which went to work with my husband, my little ones spent all their time with me, but not in the car. We were mostly at home. By the time the seventh child was born, five years after #6, she had a car seat which she rode in to the soccer fields with older siblings and where she played in her playpen many Saturdays. I can see the progression, from one car, two cars, three for some families, more places to go, things to do, less time spent at home, more time in a car. So maybe a car seat blanket is just the thing for a baby born in 2019. I keep learning new things!
I admit that most of what I learned about parenting I learned from my kids, boots-on-the-ground. Now, it looks like the grands and great grands will teach me some more new stuff. They probably have an App for that on their little plastic tablets, one kept in every car with movies and car seat blankets. The Things We Must Teach Grandma About App.