The Clark Bark: Big Boy Seat

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Big Boy Seat

New and old...oh boy, here we go

It's funny the things you don't know as a parent, or that never cross your mind. For instance, I was talking to my sister on the phone and I mentioned that Topher was out-growing his car seat. I told her about a seat we were going to buy that started as a 5-point harness, then converted into a belt positioning seat and later into a backless booster. Then she said her girl had been using just a regular booster since she turned three.

Topher in his "baby" seat for the last time

Well, this kind of blew my mind. Three! I mean, that's practically a baby, isn't it? And then I thought about my child, sitting in the car, his seat un-anchored to the car's infrastructure, his arms on armrests instead of tucked into a little pod of a seat, and the seat belt--just the regular seat belt--holding him in. Quite frankly, it sounded like a deathtrap.

So when we ended up at the doctor's office on Friday for an acute case of tonsillitis (and then filled Topher's first prescription of his entire life--amazing huh?) I asked the doc about the car seat. He said as long as Topher weighed enough (he does, by over 6 lbs) and was the recommended age (he is, by over 6 months) he should be good to go.

So excited to bring his Mario seat home

So it was off to Target, and Topher immediately found a seat he deemed the "Mario" seat (because it was blue and red, which he believes are Mario's signature colors). It happened to be on sale today so I took the plunge and bought it. And then I un-anchored the baby seat and set the new seat in its place. That's right, it just sits there. Topher climbed in, tried out the new seat's "big kid night-time activity lights" (his favorite feature) and I strapped the seat-belt across his tiny little body. Then I tried not to hyperventilate.

Test drive in the living room showing off his seat's lights

I haven't actually gathered up the courage to drive anywhere yet. Heavens no, let's not get crazy here. But I'm working on it. I just don't understand how we got to this point. How is my little boy big enough to use a seat-belt? Maybe it's not a big deal. My sister didn't seem to think anything of it, after all. But it's just one more reminder that Topher will soon be big. Bigger than me. And sweating more and eating more than I can cook. And not asking me to cuddle with him every morning and not needing to stroke my hair before bed every night and not pronouncing "pudding" like an indescribable one-syllable word that can only be spelled puhdn.

But I guess I'll just have to do what every mommy does: hold onto him while I can, squeeze him until we both can't breathe...and let him sit in the big boy seat.