On Car Trips and Toddlers
We are very lucky to have a car. It might be a bit of a rust bucket, but it purrs like a kitten and has at least a year or two left before we have to start sinking money into it. I love our car. The only thing I don’t love is how small our car is. We tend to mostly use our car for long car trips to visit family, since we don’t have any nearby. When Lauchie grew out of his bucket seat (Henry’s old Graco Snugride 32, in case you were wondering), I hemmed and hawed over whether to buy another 5 point harness convertible for Henry or switch him to a seatbelt high backed booster.
My two biggest factors (outside of safety, obviously) were cost effectiveness and size. The reason I was really questioning whether I wanted another 5 point harness seat is that as it stands, I already will eventually need to buy a booster seat, so do I want to spend the money to buy three separate seats for H? I know that Lauchie will also eventually be big enough for a booster, and probably at the same time as H, so do I really need to buy another 5 point?
Henry’s a big kid, and he’s well above the minimum requirements for a high back booster (usually 40lbs and 40 inches). But which to choose? There were some flimsy looking boosters, but then there was the Graco Affix. This car seat speaks to me. I have a bigger than average kid and a small car, but I’m not *quite* ready to give up the comfort and extra support of a 5 point harness. This thing was my saving grace. PLUS PLUS PLUS for me with this booster was that it tethers to my car’s UAS, exactly the same way as a five point convertible but does it with one hand. Best of all Graco is giving a $25 mail-in rebate on all infant car seats (infant and toddler) and all travel systems over $99 purchased from August 1st to October 31st, 2014. For more information visit www.gracobaby.ca or Graco Baby Canada on Facebook.
I honestly was so nervous about moving H up into a bigger seat, especially because I got so many conflicting pieces of advice from friends regarding moving into a booster. In the end, after talking to two car seat installation experts, and seeing how comfortable this seat is for H, I know I made the right decision for us. I’m really happy with how this seat looks, how Henry fits into it and the fact that it will convert to a regular booster eventually, too.
My main problem now, however, is that we have absolutely no place to go in the near future.
A Graco Affix was provided to Kat in order to write this blog. This blog was sponsored by Graco Canada, but all thoughts and opinions are her own.
