Safety Stinks!

According to Joanna at least! In anticipation of our upcoming vacation to Lake Powell, I searched high and low for the safest, highest rated, most comfortable life vest for Joanna to wear while we are on the houseboat. I was relieved to find this wonderful neoprene infant vest that is coast guard approved and reviewed to be the least uncomfortable of them all......well, a picture tells a thousand words! :)

And this was the second day of trying to get it on her! The day it arrived in the mail, Randy was at work, and I decided I would try it on Joanna for size (not thinking it was going to be a big deal). As soon as I got her two arms through the holes, she freaked! I was trying to sip up the front while she was sitting on the floor only to realize that because her torso was shorter than the vest, her head had sunk into the vest (imagine a turtle retreating in its shell) :) Before I had time to realize what was happening, she had fallen forward onto her belly, head still inside the vest, crying and flailing about like a fish trying to figure out how to get out of the thing! I quickly came to her rescue, but she definitely didn't think that I saved her fast enough. Needless to say, for the rest of the day, she would crawl for the hills if she even so much as caught a glimpse of the 'blue monster'!

So....randy and I came up with a plan: I would hold her upright (to prevent the turtle effect) and distract her with her favorite things (my cell phone and the remote control) while Randy came from behind and slipped the vest on! Joanna was unsure at first and clawed at my neck for dear life, but once she had the cell phone in hand, she seemed to forget all about the entire ordeal :)

We were able to keep it on her for about 5 minutes (baby steps). Tonight, we will shoot for 6 minutes :)