Oops! and Ouch!
So I was at Crate & Barrel the other day loading my packages and Henry into the car. I threw the car keys to the front seat, strapped Henry in his seat and walked around to the driver’s side to get in. The door was locked – doh!!! Well dang, now what do I do? My keys, baby and cell phone are all locked in the car. This security guard came over and said he’d watch my car (and baby) while I go inside C&B and call a locksmith. So do I leave my car and baby with this strange man? What options do I have at this point, really?

Okay, so I go back inside and explain to the cashiers how I need to use their phone because my keys and my baby are locked in my car. Thankfully, I could see my car and the security guard through the windows and he hadn’t taken off or anything. He was just leaning on the hood being a good babysitter. The cashier said I needed to call 911. Really? Not a locksmith…okay… I’ll call 911. They transferred me to the fire department who said they would be there in just a few minutes to break my window. What?!!? I could do that – don’t you have a slim-jim or something? They said no and that I better not try to break the window myself, especially with a baby in the car. They have a special way so that glass doesn’t fly all around. For the next 3 minutes I franticly tried to get a locksmith on the line so I could call this whole “emergency” off. I called 411 three times, and three times they transferred me to locksmiths that wouldn’t pick up the freakin’ phone! UGH!

Now I hear sirens blaring and see a small group gathering around my car. So I run outside and explain to the nice, handsome firefighters how the keys and baby ended up in the car. They said, “It happens all the time. Luckily it’s not the middle of the summer” then SMASH – my window was broken, door unlocked and Henry and I are on our way home. This little oops wasn’t cheap. New window - $350, new tint on that window $40, so almost $400 -- Ouch!

What I forgot to mention was this incident happened in Matt’s car. My Lexi was in the shop. You see, Matt, Henry and I stayed in Dallas for Christmas this year. We’d traveled to Victoria for the past 6 or 7 years, so we decided to invite Matt’s parents here this time. I guess I’ve gotten used to Christmas in Victoria, because this year I was a bit frazzeled. We were still shopping for gifts on Christmas Eve. Actually I was shopping most of the week before. Usually I have it all done way in advance because we’re going out town. I thought I had more time this year. I didn’t realize how many crazy drivers there are on the road around Christmas – I being one of them.

Henry and I were in a little fender bender. I was turning left on a green light. So I was looking left and this car came out of no where and smashed into my front right corner. Everyone was fine. I’m sure the other car was totaled though. And it was all my fault. I should have waited for the green arrow. Another oops and a $1000 – Ouch!

We had good Christmas though. Ate A LOT, got lots of presents and saw the whole family. Henry is walking way more than crawling now but hasn’t started running. This is good for me. I can keep up with him right now. I took him in for his 15-month appointment yesterday. He’s 29 lbs and 31 inches tall. That’s 95% on weight and 55% on height. We call him our little linebacker right now. But since Matt and I were both super-skinny in high school, I figure he’ll slim up when he figures out how to run. The doctor agreed -- nothing to worry about.

Henry’s learning lots of new words and signs. We’re trying to teach him baby signing. They say a baby can communicate using sign language way before they can verbalize what they are thinking. Henry tells us when he wants milk, a banana, and when he’s all done. He can say, dad, mom, Shack, dog, ball, duck, socks and shoes. He’s got 12 teeth and the 4 canines are pushing through his gums right now. Except for just a few bad teething days, Henry is still a super-happy, easy-going baby. Sleeps very well – 11 to 12 hours at night and then still 2 naps a day. We may transition to 1 nap here pretty soon. We’ll see. He plays really well with other kids and waves hi and bye to almost anyone.

He’s also discovered the toilet and loves to “splash, splash” in the water. I ran into the bathroom the other day and pulled him out of the toilet, then he proceeded to lick the water off his hand. Okay, time to get toilet locks.