Boost me up!

I stuck this in my monthly round-up for September, but I know not everyone reads those. So to Glenda's question about has he tried the "I'm a big boy now, I don't need a baby seat," we nipped that one in the bud. The weekend before his party, we moved him from a carseat to a backless booster, now referred to as "the big boy seat."



Not the best picture, sorry. It was taken with my phone. And yes, for anyone who read the recent article or saw the thing on TV about many of the boosters not meeting the safety criteria, this was one of the ones in their "best bets" category, so we're good. (News report here; seat recommendations here.) We got the Graco TurboBooster in the Chatter color scheme. Used "Ship to Store" at Wal-Mart, so we ordered online and shipping was free. We just had to go pick it up at the store, and they emailed us when they arrived. Up to the point of picking them up, it worked great! The in-store part I was not impressed with. I don't know if we were the first people to use it at our store or what, but no one seemed to have any clue what was going on. It was still worth it to save the $20 on shipping (we bought three of them), but it just reminded me once again why we almost never shop at Wal-Mart.

The only bad thing about using the booster is that, in our car, the center seatbelt does not lock, so if you lean forward, the shoulder strap goes with you. For the side seats, it locks. Once you pull it out to buckle and let it retract, you cannot pull it out again without unbuckling and letting it roll all the way up. I didn't think it was good for a 4-year-old to be able to move the strap that much in the middle position, so I moved him to the side. I know that is less safe than the center, but I feel safer that he can't get out of the seatbelt once it is put on him. Unless he clicks the button to release the seatbelt. We had trouble with that the first time we put him in the seat, but once we explained that he was not to unbuckle until we stopped the car and told him it was okay, he's been fine. He even asks first, "Mommy, I push the button now?"

It did mean that I had to flip the child locks on the back door that he sits by, though, and that has taken more getting used to than anything. He likes getting in and out of the car himself, so to suddenly have one of the back doors "not working" is frustrating for him. But he definitely likes his new "big boy seat."

Currently feeling: he's growing so fast!