So after a lot of soul searching, I have decided I am not going to move the girl to a booster seat when Charlotte is ready for her convertible seat after all.
This was my original plan, but with the girl being so petite (she weighs about 43lbs now) and being in a seat that harnesses to 65lbs, it seems just too soon to put her in a booster in our main car. She is already in boosters in her grandparent’s and father’s cars, but she is not in these cars often or far. In my car she is all over the place, often even on the highway, and I was her as safe as possible as long as possible.
I know it is odd to have a 6 year old in a harnessed car seat…but I don’t care. She has an almost $300 car-seat and the reason the seat is that expensive is that it can keep her harnessed longer, so we will do just that! A pet peeve of mine is people that buy Britax because is “the best” and they need to have one, and then don’t take advantage of the higher rear and forward facing limits that gave Britax it’s reputation (since until the last couple years they were the only seats with such high limits) in the first place. Luckily she does not complain about her seat…much.
So, I decided to buy Charlotte a new convertible seat, since I don’t plan to keep her in the bucket much longer. As soon as she is sitting up…maybe before…she is outta there. I can barely carry it with her anyways, and once I am no longer using it as a carrier, I think she’ll be more comfortable in a regular convertible seat where she she has more space and will be higher up and able to see better. Then, when the girl is ready for a booster in my car (we already have it) we can use the Radian for Charlotte in one car, the new seat in the other-and we’ll have all the seats we need. Since we would have to buy Charlotte a second convertible for the man’s car eventually (probably when I go back to work), it makes sense to buy it sooner so we can keep the girl harnessed longer.
After much research on various car-seat bulletin boards and sites, I have decided on the True Fit Convertible Car Seat in Monet. It has a 35lb rear-facing limit, and 65lb forward facing limit. As well, the top piece comes off for rear-facing to make it short, which is great as a lot of the big convertible car-seats do not fit into cars rear-facing very easily (unless you move the front seat way forward)…and we have a sedan not a Minivan or SUV with space to spare. I was actually not convinced the Radian would fit in our car rear-facing anyways. Should be fine in the passenger side of the man’s car eventually though, since he never has front seat passengers so the front seat can be moved way forward. The my car, the man (6″1), is often in the front passenger seat.
It is, of course, also pretty:
Last of all, it has a nicer price tag than the other options with equal limits, which were the Britax Marathon or another Radian.
P.S. I strongly recommend all parents consider keeping their babies and young toddlers rear-facing as long as possible, and their preschoolers harnessed as long possible. I don’t wanna get preachy on you all, just sayin’ (and providing the links).
P.P.S. Though the law may still be that babies only need to rear-face until 1 year AND 20lbs, the American Academy of Pediatrics is finally saying what car-seat techs have been saying for years; which is that babies are better off rear-facing for at least 2 years. Hopefully the Canadian Pediatric Association and lawmakers will follow suit!
Remember, the bare minimum for turning to forward-facing is 1 year AND 20lbs, the bare minimum for going to a booster seat is 4 years AND 40lbs, and the bare minimum for sitting in a regular seat-belt is 8 years OR 80lbs (in Canada).
