The first time she said it I was so excited! I celebrated! But it didn’t take me long to realize we wouldn’t be celebrating long.

We got to a red light and Courtney shouted, “red go”. Alyssa and I both cheered on her great words but then told her that green means go. She then repeated, “green go”. Hooray, we love your voice, Courtney!!!!

The next red light we got to she said “green go” but this time there was the sound of agitation in her voice and she unbuckled her seat belt.

This new behavior has continued over time so I bought a cover to go over the buckle.

Oh Courtney, mommy is still smarter.

WRONG!!!!

Courtney figured out how to climb out of the belt.

Almost 3 weeks ago we were driving home from Mackinac Island. We were stuck in horrible traffic. No traffic lights but a lot of brake lights.

“Green go” was shouted over and over again with increased agitation which lead to aggression towards Alyssa which lead to her having an anxiety attack.

Over the years, car rides have usually been on of strategies to calm her down. In fact, we went through many phases where taking her for a car ride is what would get her to sleep.

This new behavior scares me. It puts anyone in the car at risk for being hurt and in return it puts other drivers on the road at risk.

What was a hard pill to swallow was Alyssa saying she didn’t want to go somewhere because it’s scary to go in the car with Courtney. Do I blame her? No.

Fortunately over the last week it has gotten better. We find counting at a red light helps. There are other things we are looking at doing to also help with this since safety in the car is of upmost importance.

Cross your fingers that the 12 hour car ride we have to Connecticut in 2 days goes smoothly!