Big boy!

Stephen has now officially outgrown a second carseat. After he outgrew his infant carrier seat, we upgraded to a convertible carseat. I believe Stephen was approximately 10 months old at the time. We foolishly assumed that since Stephen was always on the smaller side, that a carseat that would accommodate him until he was 40 lbs and 40 inches would be adequate. At that time however, we were not aware of the awesome growing powers of Stephen's torso. We should have been tipped off as to what was occurring this spring, when he could no longer wear size 2T shirts without exposing his torso. Last week, we noticed that the shoulder straps on the carseat were no longer level with the top of his shoulders when he sat up straight in his carseat. The carseat instructions state that the straps should be level or ABOVE shoulder height when the carseat is facing forward, so it was time to upgrade. So, here is Stephen's new carseat!

This seat will allow him to remain safely harnessed until he weighs 65 lbs (or his shoulders get above the top holes - he has 3 more above the one the straps are in currently), and then it will convert to a high back booster seat and a backless booster to be used with the seat belt. Theoretically, he can use the booster seat until he reaches 100 lbs, but if genetics have anything to say about that, the carseat will expire before that time (carseats have a shelf-life of 6 years before the plastic might degrade, making it unsafe). We are very please with this, as is Stephen. He spent some time in the car today working on taking his cup out of the cupholder with only one hand (he couldn't reach with his left), and then putting it back. Should be very comfortable for our road trip to Tucson next month!

After dinner, we were playing ball in the family room downstairs, and Erik and I both caught something out of the corner of our eye in the backyard. We looked out into the yard in time to see a duck landing on the lawn. So all 3 of us ran out onto the back porch to catch this photo. Stephen was more entertained by his parents quacking at the duck than the "bup" (Stephen's word for duck) itself, but it was certainly an interesting event, and a fun way to end our day!