August 13, 2008

Trying Hard To Not Be The Lead Story On Nancy Grace

Have you heard those stories on Nancy Grace about people who forget to take their children out of the car? I’ve never understood how someone could forget they had the child with them, but today I feel much sympathy for those people.

When Andrew was about three weeks old, we went to Chili’s for lunch. Tiffany walked ahead with Caleb since he is on her side of the car. I get out and walk in too. I think my parents were with us and I was having a conversation with them.

When I walked into the restaurant lobby, Tiffany said, “Where’s Andrew?”. I panicked and dashed outside. I had left our newborn locked inside of the car! Thankfully it was winter, and he’d only been in the car for less than a minute. I could have probably just blamed it on sleep deprivation. I can’t imagine any way in the world I could have gone longer than ten minutes without missing him. Still. Very, very scary.

Fast forward seven months. We head into McDonalds for breakfast the other day. Caleb and Tiffany jump out of the car, and I jump out and follow. Right before we get to the door she looks and says, “Where’s Andrew?” Once again, panicked, I run back to the car. Basically the scene repeated itself. I felt like an idiot.

Later on the whole scenario sank in more. It terrified me. I understand now how those news stories happen all the time. I feel for those moms and dads. I’m a good father. I love my boys like crazy and would never dream of hurting them, but twice I’ve walked off without thinking to get my baby out.

We have a car that reminds us if the lights are left on, if a door is ajar, if we’re not buckled up, or if there’s not enough pressure in our tires. Couldn’t there be an alarm system that goes off when you leave an infant in the car?

Tiffany is headed to Boston for four days this weekend, and I’ll be alone with the boys. Caleb has promised to help me remember to get Andrew out of the car every time we go somewhere. I’m not worried anymore. I’m fully aware of how easy it is to leave a little one in the car. Just in case I might start looking for that alarm system.