crack the windows?...

Now that I'm back to work, me and the little one are traveling together quite more then ever before. The drive morning and night is about 30 minutes, give or take how many school buses I run in to (and by run in to, I don't mean actually hitting them) and how many other people decide they need to leave their house or work at the exact same time as me. As a smart mommy, I try to time her feedings around the commute to make sure she's good and liquored up.

Inevitably, people need to stop for small things on their way home. "Honey, can you pick up some milk on the way home?" "Dear, we're out of toilet paper, can you grab some quick before you get home?" Before baby, this was no problem. Run in and a couple of dollars later, you're in the car with the milk or bread or whatever. Need to pick up a prescription and have some sort of odd reason why you can't use the drive through? Take a quick trip into CVS, head to the back, talk to the people who seem to be playing dress up with pseudo-pharmacist garb, and then go home, ready to medicate when needed.

But now, life isn't that easy (which of course was a given considering I'm mom now). I ran into the dilemma today when a milk shortage prompted a quick call. "Hey, since you need to stop and get gas, can you run in and grab some milk?" The question popped into my head as to where all the Wawas were on his way home, but that's neither here nor there. I'm driving along, and suddenly I think to myself, do I need to lug this heavy carseat/carrier into Wawa just for a single jug of milk? It'll only take a minute...can I leave her in the car? Of course I'd keep the doors locked, but is that something socially acceptable? The tinted back windows keep her hidden from outside eyes. But someone would randomly walk past my car, trip, smoosh their face onto my windows, at which point they'd see the abandoned baby and call the police.

Needless to say, I ended up at home milk-less. There may have been a time when parents left their kids in the car while they went grocery shopping. Heck, when my mom did that with me I think her station wagon didn't even have seat belts in the back. I wasn't safe when the car was moving, so what could possibly happen in a stationary vehicle? I'm sure when children were in the wagons on the Oregon Trail, they stayed put while parents went hunting for critters to eat. While I do remember all the fatal things that could happen to you in the Oregon Trail game, I do not recall them ever telling me that my computer child died by being abducted by psychotic wilderness people.

There needs to be a book out there with the protocol for things like this. There could be stipulations. If the register is by a large window 10 feet from the vehicle and the vehicle is in plain sight, it is permitted. If the parking lot is 10 or more feet from the store and there are no windows, then it's a no go. Until I find that book, I will defer to taking her with me whenever I venture in anywhere, no matter how remedial the chore may be. If I knock over the chocolate covered pretzels hanging from a dinky display at CVS with the cumbersome car seat, I'll blame this society that we now live in, chock-full-o psychos and sickos. And then I'll pick up some pretzels for my troubles.