Logan Sapphire
Ideal_Rock
- Joined
- Sep 5, 2003
- Messages
- 2,405
In a very unfortunate turn of events, my 5.5 year old's Britax Frontier was rendered unusable (my dad removed a key part of the seat and Britax said they don't recommend using it at all, either harnessed or booster mode). I'd planned on handing it down to my 3.5 year old when he outgrew his harness seats, because by then, I would feel comfortable with my daughter in a dedicated booster seat.
While she is still harnessed in her Radian and I'm not in a rush to booster her at all, I need to figure out what seat to replace the Frontier with. I do believe in extended harnessing, but honestly, I don't know if realistically she'll still be harnessed when she's 7. She does have a Graco Nautilus in my sister's car that we're using temporarily and out of curiosity, I tried her out it in it boostered and she fits; I posted on a car seat safety page and they confirmed that the belt fit is good. They also recommended starting to booster train her, which I would probably do once we put the Nautilus back in my sister's car.
The hitch is that my 3.5 year old is tall- he's the same height as my daughter (42.25") and he's long torsoed, which means growing out of seats quicker than usual is probable. Should I buy her replacement seat with the thought that he'd get her seat eventually? His torso height means he would outgrow the Nautilus around 5.5 and the Frontier at 7.5. With him, I'm positive he won't be ready to booster at 5.5, but again, I doubt I'd use the Frontier to its full capacity either when he's 7.5.
Dedicated Booster
Pros: cheaper now
Cons: a little earlier than I wanted DD to booster; will need a new seat for DS down the road
Harness to Booster (most likely a Frontier for its height)
Pros: lets DD stay harnessed for as long as I want; can be handed down to DS
Cons: expensive (missed the Thanksgiving sales, darn it!); DD would only get a year's use out of it
Sorry if this is long and it seems like I'm obsessing over it. It's just that I've spent a lot of money already on various seats for these guys (think I've had 12 seats total so far) and I want to get this right.
While she is still harnessed in her Radian and I'm not in a rush to booster her at all, I need to figure out what seat to replace the Frontier with. I do believe in extended harnessing, but honestly, I don't know if realistically she'll still be harnessed when she's 7. She does have a Graco Nautilus in my sister's car that we're using temporarily and out of curiosity, I tried her out it in it boostered and she fits; I posted on a car seat safety page and they confirmed that the belt fit is good. They also recommended starting to booster train her, which I would probably do once we put the Nautilus back in my sister's car.
The hitch is that my 3.5 year old is tall- he's the same height as my daughter (42.25") and he's long torsoed, which means growing out of seats quicker than usual is probable. Should I buy her replacement seat with the thought that he'd get her seat eventually? His torso height means he would outgrow the Nautilus around 5.5 and the Frontier at 7.5. With him, I'm positive he won't be ready to booster at 5.5, but again, I doubt I'd use the Frontier to its full capacity either when he's 7.5.
Dedicated Booster
Pros: cheaper now
Cons: a little earlier than I wanted DD to booster; will need a new seat for DS down the road
Harness to Booster (most likely a Frontier for its height)
Pros: lets DD stay harnessed for as long as I want; can be handed down to DS
Cons: expensive (missed the Thanksgiving sales, darn it!); DD would only get a year's use out of it
Sorry if this is long and it seems like I'm obsessing over it. It's just that I've spent a lot of money already on various seats for these guys (think I've had 12 seats total so far) and I want to get this right.