Future car seat arrangements and the rfing radian in sienna

I have planned for ds1 to move to a booster and dd4 to have his radian sometime later when I feel like switching things around.

There are a few problems. I hate having the radian rfing in the middle-most seat. It falls down. I've tried latch, seatbelt, and seatbelt with the locking clip. It's the 5 yo's seat and she does kick against the back of the car's seat, so perhaps with a smaller one it wouldn't fall back? I hate it! I'd turn dd3 ffing if ds2 wouldn't kick her in the face.

If I put ds1 there, then he'd have to crawl underneath either one of the tethered rfing radians. He'd also be in a position to see the driving area of the van. He used to be there and he leaned forward all the time so that he could learn to drive.

I could stick dd3 into the bodyguard, putting it in its slimmest position, then put dd1 in a backless in the middle. Ds1 isn't skinny enough and neither are either of the older girls. I may be able to stick the two eldest next to each other in backless harmony seats and ds on the side in the bodyguard or vivo.

Or, I could put dd4 in the middle-most seat in the avenue and ds on the side in his vivo.

Just as a recap of what I've got now:
middle row: dd4 in keyfit, dd3 in rfing radian, ds2 in rfing radian (tends to get violent towards others while in the van)
third row: dd1 bodyguard, ds1 ffing radian, dd2 vivo

The kids' stats: dd1 age 10, 18 inch torso, 60 pounds
dd2 age 8.5, 18 inch torso, 63 pounds
ds1 age 7, 17 inch torso, 50 pounds
dd3 age 5, 14 inch torso, 31 pounds
ds2 age 3, 13 inch torso (roughly), 30 pounds
dd4 age 9mo, around 17 pounds

I want to keep all of the radians since they come in handy when you have a lot of kids. I promised dh I wouldn't buy any new seats, though I planned to sell or trade the keyfit when finished with it.

I have had rfing kids in the third row and it was a pain I'd rather not try again if I can get around it.

Brainstorm ideas for me on how to make this work.

What about trading DD4 and DD3? DD4 in KF or Avenue. Did moving the center seat up and DS2 back help keep him from reaching whoever is next to him?

Pixels said:

What about trading DD4 and DD3? DD4 in KF or Avenue. Did moving the center seat up and DS2 back help keep him from reaching whoever is next to him?

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Hmm, hadn't thought of that. So far, moving dd3's seat forward has been a good thing. I put them both in their seats and told ds to reach dd and he could only get her leg. As long as he doesn't learn to pinch that should be fine. Sitting dd4 there might work.

Ds1 is 7, though and would really like to sit in a booster. I guess that's why I got hung up on moving things all around. I don't know how to fit him in in a booster. He should fit in the radian for another year.

Alright, figured it out and so I'm taking the kiddies out to play car seats. Except ds' vivo is off with dh! Oh, well, I don't have to take all the kiddies anywhere today anyway. I'm going to try:
ds1 vivo, dd4 keyfit, ds2 rfing radian
dd1 bodyguard, dd3 ffing radian, and dd2 vivo

Hopefully that will work. Just make sure you do something to protect the KeyFit so it doesn't get accidentally unbuckled: LATCH, flip the female buckle, or cover it in some way.

I decided while the seat was out there, to just stick it in. Ds can try out the new position in the radian, though it would be easier to get to the back if it were a booster. Now all three middle seats are latched. If the girls find a friend to go to the orchestra concert on Friday I'm going to redo the seats for them anyway. (So they can all sit next to each other in boosters.) I figure if ds can act nicely in his radian we will try out a booster.

I think I will have to put things back, but dd3 in the avenue or something. Dd3 cannot buckle or unbuckle, so I have to reach into the back. It is difficult to put baby in the center. I guess we'll just have to wait until dd3 learns to buckle herself. (Why, oh why can't she?) At that point baby will be older and perhaps more helpful with getting in.