Help me think this through... (long)

Carrie_R

Ambassador - CPS Technician
I finally got myself "set" carseat wise at the moment (save a new booster for Z, easy enough,) then realized by summer I'm going to need one more change. Sigh. A couple of my (RFing) kids get traded out for a (boostered) older child, and it just mucks up the whole belt/tether equation.

Vehicle: 2002 GMC Safari.
2nd Row: Passenger l/s w/tether, center lap no tether, driver l/s tether
3rd Row: Passenger l/s tether, center lap no tether, driver l/s no tether

Kids:
Z: 8.5yo, 85-90 lbs, 54ish inches
A: Just shy of 9yo, maybe 70lb, 50ish inches
C: 6.5yo, ~70lb, 50ish inches
N: 5 yo, ~50lb, 44ish inches
J: 3y4m, ~40lb, 40ish inches
S: 16m, 25-30lb, ? inches

Seats at my disposal:
Boosters:
*Graco Air
*Tall HBB (probably Cosco Pronto)

Combination:
*2 Apexes (hate 'em!)
*Nautilus
*El cheapo Cosco Harnessed HBB

Convertible:
*TrueFit
*MyRide
*2 Scenera

The oldest three will obviously be in boosters. (I'll get a third, or borrow from a parent.) N I would expect will still be in his Nautilus... he'll be 5 in late Feb and I think I would be okay with him booster training, but we spend lots of time in the car in the summer and the kids tend to sleep, so since I have a lovely 5pt that fits him, I expect to still use it.

My dilemma is with the two little ones. S is in the TF now, with J RF in the MR, but he's 38.5lbs as he travels in the car (no shoes/light jacket,) and is really flirting with the 1" mark.

I had played with the idea of getting him a RadianSL, but talked myself out of it (based on options of a few moms here.) He's 2y11m now. So my plan was to go ahead and turn him when we got back from Christmas break. I *think* I want to move S to his MR, and put J FF in the TF, since I don't really like the MR FF, and I have other options.

However, that leaves me in the following scenerio:

3rd row: Booster child driver side
FF Seat center
Booster/FF pass side.
2nd row: Booster/FF driver
RF Seat center
Booster/FF Pass

(2 of the Booster/FF would be Booster, one FF, but it doesn't really matter which goes where.)

Or, in another way: 2 of my 3 tether locations will be taken up by booster riders. That leaves only 1 tether location for my FF riders.

So, options:
1) Install a FF seat center, untethered
2) Get an 86Y for center lap belt only, to use with a HBB, and see if I can install the heavy duty tether somewhere?
3) Buy a Radian for J... and hope he doesn't gain 6lb in 9mos. (I doubt he will.)

If I have to leave a FF seat untethered, I think I would move N to the TF, outboad, tethered, and put J center in the Nauti, untethered, since IIRC a) smaller children do better untethered, and b) the Nauti tests well untethered.

I don't really want to spend the money on the Radian (no child of my own to use it, done with daycare in 9mos, child is over 3yo) but that seems to be the safest solution here. That said, if I'm going to need to buy it for the summer, I may as well buy it now instead of having a FFing 'gap' -- and also to get 8mos of use out of it rather than 3. ;)

So WWYD? Is there any simple solution I'm missing? Any creative situation I'm missing?
 
ADS

babyherder

Well-known member
Get more tethers installed? (Thought you couldn't but if you're looking into the heavy duty one maybe you can get regular ones?). Get smaller kiddos?

That's a hard decision to make. I babysit and have carseats mostly just in case. One got used once. So its hard to justify paying for something (especially that's as expensive as a radian) if it won't get used much. But then again, I can't put a price on any child's life. When in doubt I think about one of the kids and ask myself if that kid is worth $____. My answer is always yes. It doesn't mean I always find the funds for the perfect seat but it means I try. Sigh.
 

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