Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Trapped Inside

Exactly how is this suppose to work? I mean, how am I suppose to leave my house with two kids. It's not as easy as it might seem. Most of my readers with cars are probably a bit spoiled having their vehicles parked in a garage connected to their home, or even parked in front of their home (in case their garage is stuffed with too much junk to fit a car inside). My car on the other hand can be parked anywhere in a square mile radius. On a good day, when the "Car God" smiles on me I get a parking spot right in front of my apartment. On other days when I have angered them, I am forced to park several streets away. It's not unusual for me to drive around for 20 minutes looking for a good parking spot only to give up and park far away after all.

So back to my problem. I just haven't figured out how to leave me apartment alone (meaning without Tom's help) with the two kids. I guess I could leave them alone in the apartment, go get the car and drive around to the apartment and then load them in one by one. That options freaks me out. Whenever I think I just might go for that option I get flashes of scenes from movies where a fire breaks out, the fire department is there and the building is in flames and a woman is screaming that her baby is in there! I am afraid that would be me if I left to go get the car. I always wondered what kind of a mother leaves her baby in the apartment alone in the first place. Now I know, the kind that has to park the car a mile away. So, no that's just not a safe option. The other idea I have is loading them into the stroller and walking all of us to the car together. I haven't worked out the details of that one either because that would require me to leave a child outside alone. This is because I can't lift two kids in the double stroller up the stairs onto the street alone. Two kids in a stroller is heavy. I would have to put the stroller up on the street empty and then load them in one by one. I'm worried while I'm putting one kid in that the other may be kidnapped, or hurt. Haylie unattended by the stairs is an accident waiting to happen. She thinks she can step up and down stairs like an adult. Going up the stairs isn't a problem, but going down is. Although we have tried to teach her to scoot down on her bum she refuses and steps down with gusto. I can't say how many times I have caught her just in the nick of time before she plummets to injury on the hard stone pavement.

I've talked to Tom about installing a handicap ramp onto the stairs. That way I could load them up inside and just stroll right up to the street. Only, he doesn't have the tools, and the ramp would have to be pretty steep. I'm not sure how safe it would end up being. I fear I am doomed to stay inside our apartment for the next eight months unless I can figure out a safe way to get us all out of the apartment at the same time. Quite the dilema, isn't it.

4 comments:

gretchen said...

What an awful predicament! If you're trapped inside, we'll just have to come visit you! :)

Lulu said...

aww jenny, i'm sorry. i definitely understand how hard it is now that you have two to load into the car.
what i did with nina and yuri was first, get to the car. i didn't bother taking time to hook nina up to her chair; i just put here in the car told her to sit down and shut the door. that way she wasn't running around on the sidewalk or into the street or heaven forbid kidnapped.
then i went to the other side and took the time to put yuri into her side and put away the stroller in the trunk. then i went back to nina and buckled her in.
like you, i was paranoid about turning my back on one of them while i was putting the other in the car. so that was my easy and full proof method. which i'd highly suggest to anyone.
hope it helps, and hope to see you soon, maybe at the hoboken halloween parade.
take care.

Maile said...

I feel for you, Jenny. I did the same thing for quite a while until we moved to our current home. And I second what Mery said - that's what I've done since Kaia was born. Also, do you have a baby carrier that you could carry Huck in? That way you could either have Hailey walk holding your hand to your car or maybe use a small umbrella stroller - the cheap kind?

Jamie said...

I hate the thought of leaving a kid inside too! I always think of the little girl that was kidnapped in Europe and think that I could never forgive myself if something happened because I left "for just a minute." Stairs are the absolute WORST! I wish there were ramps everywhere. I think the baby carrier idea would work well, or maybe get the stroller set up outside the back door above the steps, then load the kids in, then bump it up the final one or two stairs (if I remember right?) to get out of the gate. I don't know... I have my hands full with one, so I give you a lot of credit!