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uncage the beast

this morning after i had loaded my standard 427 bags into my car and crated the doggie for the day, i made a dismaying discovery. the car seat, it seemed, was not in my vehicle.

flash back lo those 12 hours, to a tired family coming home from the camp, extracting a sleeping babe from his harness and carrying him in ... leaving the carseat in situ in the wrong car.

a quick phone call to my husband later, it was confirmed: he had the carseat.

the good news? we have an extra one. the bad news? the cover was off of it and it was completely unconnected and unstrapped.

so i dragged the car seat into the middle of the kitchen where i could work on while keeping an eye on my curiously crawling kiddo. it went something like this:

(pull, tug, tuck strap.) "no, no, john, don't eat buddy's dogfood. that's for buddy." (flip the cover, hook the hook, pull the strap around the back.) "john, that's buddy's bone. please leave buddy's bone alone." (pull it tight.)(look around.) "john?"

there he was at the door to buddy's crate, letting buddy lick his fingers and giggling. "perfect," i thought, "that'll keep him occupied a moment while i finish this up!" (tug, clip, cinch.)

then i glanced up again to check on the boys, and watched john deftly reach up and undo the top latch of the kennel. "lucky guess," i thought. guess again, mom; without a moment's hesitation my 11 month old reached down to undo the second latch and knowingly opened the door.

with a few more tugs and snaps left to go before the car seat was usable, i was now surrounded by a three-ring circus the likes of which only a happy crawling baby and an 82 lb lab brother can create. slobber and fur were everywhere. giggles and pants were the soundtrack. it was a mess ... and it was adorable.

i finally got the seat rigged and ready to go, and managed to get buddy back in his crate. (thank goodness he's a good dog and responds almost instantly to "kennel up!") i returned to the car seat, ready to strap john in, when i heard a strange voice.

"babe? hello? can you hear me?"

my industrious child has now picked up my cell phone and called his father.

(ok, so he just happened to hit send and redial the last number, but still! opening a dog cage AND making his first phone call all in the same day? come on now. this kid's a genius. least his mom thinks so.)

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