Musical Chairs

For nearly 9 months, I've been struggling with how to arrange everyone in our van.  Though we have an 8 passenger jitny, it's not always possible or realistic just to put a particular child next to another much less the seat in which they are supposed to ride.  I have notebooks of sketches and diagrams, have researched seats and deliberated regulations, tried to imagine the long-term needs of the family.

Then The Car Seat Lady entered my life.

A friend sent me to her website in reference to a particular booster seat.  I contacted her with the details of my situation, and after a couple of weeks of phone tag, she called me up and told me exactly what to buy and who to put where.  Seats were purchased and then the really agonizing part: installation.

We're both well-educated and fairly mechanically adept, but car seat installation is not for the faint of heart. It is usually a process laden with four-letter words, none of which are "easy," "fine," or "good."



Boy, were we in for a surprise. 

The cleaning up of UFOs (Unidentified Food Objects) took more time than putting in the seats...correctly.

If you haven't heard, the AAP recently updated their car seat recommendations to advise parents to keep their toddlers in rear-facing car seats until age 2, or until they reach the maximum height and weight for their seat.  The Car Seat Lady has more particulars, including helpful videos explaining why kids are safer rear-facing.

Everyone is happy and safe, and now we're just waiting to fill seat #5.