Oh happy day! We’ve graduated to the front-facing car seat.
In the beginning, the rear facing seat was no biggie. Simon weighed 7 pounds or so, the whole thing lifted out of a semi-permanently anchored base, and other than a slightly awkward reach to get the sucker out, there was nothing to it. Then Simon went on to weigh 10, 12, 15, 18+ pounds and the going got harder. Or heavier to be more accurate.
For the last week or so, we’ve given up on taking the whole seat out altogether. But it turns out that getting Simon into and out of a seat facing backwards in the middle of the back seat is not significantly easier than lifting the whole two-ton baby-plus-seat contraption was. They’re both hard. Plus, Simon’s legs are now so long that they can’t extend all the way without hitting the back seat. And the absolute last straw is that we’re going to Gatlinburg in two weeks, and the thought of taking that trip with the old seat makes us both cringe.
So Tuesday night, on impulse, we decided to go out and get a new seat. We had been out for dinner and had managed to hurt our backs and bonk Simon’s head on the interior roof TWICE when we decided enough was enough. He must be 20 pounds. He’s within spitting distance of a year. It’s time.
So having had one friend recommend the Britax and another the Graco, we ignored all, skipped the consumer reports guide, and bought the Eddie Bauer one that looked the best to us and was priced high enough to seem reasonable (over $100) but not so high to make us gasp (under $250).
It’s possible, just possible, that we messed up and will be back for the Graco or Britax in just a few days or weeks. If that happens, we will have thrown away good money on an impulse buy. But man, right now I’m so sick of that rear facing seat that $200 for even a week or so sounds like money well spent.
Long live the Eddie Bauer!
CODA: I wrote this yesterday, and didn’t finish before the okcomputer server crashed. Today Matt and I went to adjust the seat, only to discover that Simon’s not tall enough for it yet. So much for trusting our instincts at the store. Looks like we’ll be owning a Britax soon after all. And next time I’ll listen to friends and/or do my research before shopping.