Car Seat Friday!

You have missed them, haven't you?? Well, we are coming to the close of another chapter in Carl's Car Seat Friday history. He is graduating out of his car seat and into a high backed booster seat. He has not quite maxed out the weight limit of 50#, but, he has maxed out the harness belts! We cannot get them buckled with his coat on without pulling parts of the coat through the belts and jamming the seat buckle so hard you think you might not get it to click. Once in place, the belts are so tight he gasps for air. Now, you are not really supposed to loosen the belts fully to allow for coats because in a crash, the bulky coat will compress under impact and leave the child with belts too loose to be safe, but the whole red-marks-on-the-shoulders-and-he-can't-take-a-deep-breath thing really means he is ready to move up. The belts are tight without a coat at all. And, yes, it has been in the lower 30s here this week and several trips I removed his coat because I couldn't buckle him in otherwise. My mother suggested I contact the airlines and get an extender for the belts. (that is a joke, people)

Gretchen still fits in her buckles and is still 8+ pounds under the weight limit. She did not get a new car seat yet. We get to spend more time finding the color combo of the brand name we want for her. For Carl, once coat weather hit, I couldn't even wait for online delivery.

So, to preserve the memory of what a 5 year old boy looks like in his car seat, we hold Carl's final Car Seat Friday. From here on out, Carl will participate in Booster Seat Fridays upon occasion.

Here he is on the first day in this seat. Sept 27, 2006

taken today. (notice the dog cage is in the down position? We do not have a dog to contain, but the springs that hold that in place just got too old. Rest in peace, springs.)