kphil
Member
I'm thinking through the car seat arrangements for when we put the baby's seat in the car. We have 2 birthdays coming before then, so at that point we will have dd10 in a Monterey, dd7.5 in a Nautilus and ds4 in (I think) a MyRide. I thought I knew where I would put everyone, but after watching the TC videos, I'm thinking a lot more about head excursion room and wanting to take that into account with who sits where.
We have an 8-seater Sienna, and my thought has been that we will remove the middle row outboard seat on the passenger side. That will allow the 3rd row to be easily accessed. Pretty certain that baby should go behind me (middle row, drivers-side outboard). I had planned to have my ds (4 by that time) in the 3rd row, passenger side outboard, thinking that would allow his harness adjuster to be reached easily, since the seat in front of him will be gone. That would leave either my 10yo or 7yo in the 3rd row driver side outboard, which does not have nearly as much space in front of it as any of the other seating positions. Seems it would be better to have my 4yo there, but I don't know that it's feasible to get him buckled well in that location. If not, then probably my best bet is 7yo in Nautilus in the 3rd row behind baby, and 10yo in Monterey in the middle seat, middle row. 7yo will be going into a booster at some point, though--likely by the end of the year, I'd think, which will then make it less clear who is safer where.
Anyone have any thoughts, or ideas of how you would do it differently? My oldest is mature about safety stuff, and I had planned that she will be the one to buckle ds4 in--I have had her do it for him a number of times, and she does it well, and gets him nice and tight, and I always check to make sure it was done. That will allow me to put baby in, while she puts ds in, then I can check and make sure ds is tight, and check on dd7 while dd10 buckles her booster. Shoot, that reminds me why I originally thought I would have dd7 in the middle seat, middle row--I usually turn around from the driver's side and give her a final tug on the Nautilus harness to snug it up the last little bit each time before we drive. That would be more difficult if she's in the back.
What would you do?
We have an 8-seater Sienna, and my thought has been that we will remove the middle row outboard seat on the passenger side. That will allow the 3rd row to be easily accessed. Pretty certain that baby should go behind me (middle row, drivers-side outboard). I had planned to have my ds (4 by that time) in the 3rd row, passenger side outboard, thinking that would allow his harness adjuster to be reached easily, since the seat in front of him will be gone. That would leave either my 10yo or 7yo in the 3rd row driver side outboard, which does not have nearly as much space in front of it as any of the other seating positions. Seems it would be better to have my 4yo there, but I don't know that it's feasible to get him buckled well in that location. If not, then probably my best bet is 7yo in Nautilus in the 3rd row behind baby, and 10yo in Monterey in the middle seat, middle row. 7yo will be going into a booster at some point, though--likely by the end of the year, I'd think, which will then make it less clear who is safer where.
Anyone have any thoughts, or ideas of how you would do it differently? My oldest is mature about safety stuff, and I had planned that she will be the one to buckle ds4 in--I have had her do it for him a number of times, and she does it well, and gets him nice and tight, and I always check to make sure it was done. That will allow me to put baby in, while she puts ds in, then I can check and make sure ds is tight, and check on dd7 while dd10 buckles her booster. Shoot, that reminds me why I originally thought I would have dd7 in the middle seat, middle row--I usually turn around from the driver's side and give her a final tug on the Nautilus harness to snug it up the last little bit each time before we drive. That would be more difficult if she's in the back.
What would you do?