40lb 4.5 year old, 1-2 times/month, kinda broke...

I'm flummoxed!

DD2 has outgrown the seat that her in-town grandma had in her car (an Evenflo Triumph, 40lb seat)- she rides with grandma 1-2 times per month, usually on fairly short trips.

My choices are:
- get a new high-back booster seat for Grandma's car (DD2 has one there already)
- move either DD2's Wizard or DD1's Nautilus and have that be DD2's seat in grandma's car, with the remaining HWH seat being DD2's seat in our main car and DD1 moving to a high-back booster full-time.
- buy a new HWH seat for grandma's car (or for our main car, and move the Wizard to grandma's car).

Grandma is not especially attentive to how the kids are sitting, so it'd be all on DD2, with DD1's nagging, to stay still if we go with a booster; I think it is not impossible that DD2 would be fine at doing this, and she fits well in the Turbobooster we have. DH is concerned that DD2 would not sit correctly all the time and that grandma wouldn't notice.

DD1 doesn't want to move into a booster fulltime, and anyway I drive an Oldsmobile Silhouette Deathtrap, so I'm not sure I want her to today. With luck I'll forget about the Deathtrap rating again soon and get back to normal, but nevertheless, I don't know if I can make the decision to unharness DD1 fulltime in order to harness DD2 for 2 hours/month.

DH thinks we should go ahead and do "whatever is the safest thing," which is great except that we haven't really got a spare $165 (Graco Nautilus from babiesRus, shipped with tax, after 20% and $10-off-$50), besides which, of all things, DD2 says she doesn't like the Nautilus because it is too hard to unbuckle- she does say she'd want the pink one and mama could unbuckle her (swell), which would drive DD1 (favorite colors: pink and red) wild with envy... DD2 doesn't even LIKE pink, her favorite color is blue, but she likes gray even less, she says. Thanks, Graco, for the wide variety of color choices.

Does anyone's BigLots! still have Apex's? I don't think mine did last time I checked. I wouldn't be thrilled, but could put that in my car for DD2, and move her Wizard to grandma's car (199x Toyota Camry, no tether anchors, no adjustable headrest (I think...), probably seatback too low for DD2 in the Apex).

DD2 suggests that I just keep moving her Wizard back and forth as necessary, but, ugh- avoidance of that is why grandma has her own set of seats!

Am I missing anything in my excessively wordy analysis of the situation and options?

How about a $90 Apex from albeebaby if your Big Lots doesn't have them anymore? I think I'd rather see DD1 in a booster full time than DD2 in a booster with grandma.

Hmmm...if I didn't trust dd2 to sit properly (mine isn't much younger and I don't trust her at.all) I would probably move the seat back and forth. Britax seats IME install quickly and easily in most vehicles so that wouldn't be too much of an issue. Otherwise I have no idea since anything that goes over 40lbs is kinda costly

was at a baby store last week and saw that they are having a 60% off floor models sale this week. the store I went to already marked down some floor models last week but further markdowns this week. if you do not mind an older DOM floor model, you might want to check if there are any baby stores having floor model sale?

I know BRU and Baby Depot does give big discount off MSRP for floor model clearance for car seats, strollers and play yards.

Note that DD1 is about 45" tall, 43lbs- she is not an average sized 7.5 year old. She certainly fits well in the booster seats we have, though.

At $90, I think I'd rather dig up all the change in the couch cushions and try to fund a Nautilus... I wish I loved the Apex more. I guess they were $85 at BigLots!, anyway, not actually that much cheaper (or at all, with tax) except when there was a $20 off coupon/deal.

I'd move dd1 to a booster full time. Get her a vivo with nice sip. It looks like she is 7.5 years old, which is well and old enough to be in a booster.

christineka said:

I'd move dd1 to a booster full time. Get her a vivo with nice sip. It looks like she is 7.5 years old, which is well and old enough to be in a booster.

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We have a Britax Parkway in Tiffany for her to use (though she prefers the $25-at-BigLots! TB in "tara" for its cover).

My Big Lots still has the Apex for $80, but yeah, if you can get the Nautilus it will last a lot longer... I got mine for $65 on the day after Black Friday when they had a sale, and it was worth that, but not sure if it is worth $80. The Nauti will just last SO much longer...

I suppose a RSTV is not an option if she wants to unbuckle herself.

I wonder if you posted an ISO on swap, if someone in your area would have a MA with just a year or two left on it or something that they'd let you have for $70 or so with their least-favorite cover on it or something? And then you could probably move to a booster when that is outgrown?

She's SO close to being ready for a booster as her backup/once in a while seat. A short-term-use Marathon or something would actually be perfect. Hm.

Well, if it only had a year it would probably only be worth about $40 or so. I was basing $70 on 2 years left.

Have you checked swap? ANything good there that would suite your needs?

My dd about the same size and age as yours(09/04, 41 lbs 41 inches), and uses her big lots Tara TB as her backup seat 1-2 times per month. If you feel that DD2 can handle it, i would be fine having her use the booster in grammas car.
Other than that..I think that an apex would be a decent choice....our BL still have them........what about a blue steel 50-lb AOE for $99? it would work for a year or so probably...and then you could hand down the nauti and booster DD1 fulltime..at over 8 yrs old, even with her being small, a booster will be a very appropriate choice. Or maybe somebody on here has a seat with a year on it for cheap.....

Update- DD1 is utterly crushed at the idea of giving up her Nautilus (unless it'd be to replace it with a PINK Nautilus, which she hadn't until today known existed), and does not want to move to a booster full-time, and intends to use the Nautilus as a booster when she's outgrown the harness (when she's, like, 9). I think it'd be pretty unfair of me to insist on this route.

I will discuss more with DH; for this weekend, I'm going to move the Wizard back and forth.

DD2 has ridden in our Tara, too, and does great in it; DD1 even reminded me that when they're riding together while DD1 is in a booster, it is DD2 (and never grandma...) who reminds DD1 to "sit back" and "keep the seatbelt on right", so she doesn't see why DD2 isn't ready for a booster. But, well, DD1 is 7 years old, and is maybe not all that qualified to make that assessment.

I was nearly ready to say we should go with a booster seat in grandma's car, but DH is really unsure about it, because he isn't convinced that his mom would be attentive enough to the situation. And then, that 4yo in Nebraska, ejected with her seat... even while I strongly suspect that she may not have been in a well fitting seat, it makes me hesitant to do the next step-down in safety.

Ya, i JUST read that post..lol....you know, amazon has $149 nautis right now...cheaper than BRU even without all the coupons and stuff...and christineka has one on swap she's desperate to sell...maybe you could work something out with her...payments even?

bobandjess99 said:

Ya, i JUST read that post..lol....you know, amazon has $149 nautis right now...cheaper than BRU even without all the coupons and stuff...and christineka has one on swap she's desperate to sell...maybe you could work something out with her...payments even?

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Yeah and you live in the west, which means shipping isn't so outrageous from me

What if I could get a (new) Radian65 for slightly less than a (new) Nautilus? Hm.

I've seen your kid, she'd fit fine in a Radian. What I don't know is whether it would fit fine in a Taurus... Never tried it in one.

Wait, where did I get Taurus?

Re-read, Camry.

Well, I don't know about that either. Shouldn't be a problem unless she has fixed buckle stalks, though.

Or really really weird seatbelt geometry.

Or the Radian could go in my GM Deathtrap and the Wizard could go in the Camry.