a roller coaster ride

My little babe switched to a bigger car seat this weekend.
She no longer rides in the car rear facing- she now gets to enjoy car rides looking forward.

At first, this transition was difficult for her.  She was a bit scared when I pressed gas for the first time and everything in front of her started coming at her. She grasped the side of her seat so tightly and curled her little knees up to her chest and cried and cried... making it quite obvious she was uncomfortable.
I was uncomfortable.
It was like her first roller coaster ride. Poor thing was so scared.
I was driving, so Kyle's first reaction was to put his hand on her little feet to let her know we were here and everything was going to be okay. This act of love did seem to help a bit- except, of course, when we went around turns.

This was probably the first time she had really expressed emotions of fear and discomfort to us...or maybe now that I'm writing, I'm realizing it was the first time we made her feel these feelings on our own. After all it was our decision to change car seats.
But, as she grows older and as I progress further into my "mama role", I need to understand situations like this one are going to happen. She is going to be frighten sometimes and show signs of discomfort when new things and people come her way. It's my job to help her get over those feelings and to show her that new experiences can be scary, but they can also be fun and exciting and rewarding.
She is still so young right now, but she will understand this someday.

Since our first ride over the mountain to Grandma's house- she has adjusted to the change ( yay, so thankful!) And seems to really love her new little home in the car. Sometimes when I'm driving, I'll take a quick look back to see only wide open eyes... these new sights seems so peculiar to her these days:)