After all my daycare troubles, I'm so happy with the care we've found. She's energetic and fun. She provides healthy snacks and lunches and outdoor time. Plus she doesn't think we are crazy for wanting our baby to still be rear facing despite being a year old, in fact she kept her own children rear facing until age 2 and she even has her 3.5 year old still harnessed and her 5 year old in a high back booster. That's nearly unheard of! Not to mention she follows our philosophy of not being helicopter parents and she lets her do her thing. Even if she falls down, she lets her pick herself back up all on her own. And her own kids are very well behaved.
Finding a daycare provider, was probably the hardest thing I've ever had to do. I was truly worried about what we were going to do with her once I went back to school. It's such a weight off my shoulders to know that someone is looking after my baby and she really cares about her. Every time this week that I've gone to pick her up, I'm told about how great of a baby she is and how much she is enjoying having her. Now sure you can feign happiness and say whatever you want, but I can tell she's being genuine. I can see that the baby is happy, fed and clean. And when we are saying goodbye, the DHP is interactive and always with a report on the day. You can't fake that kind of thing.
It was incredibly difficult for me to say goodbye to my little baby on her very first day. But knowing she is in a fun, safe environment with a caring person watching after her really put my mind at ease. Knowing that an impartial observer sees my child as a well adjusted, happy, playful, independent little girl makes me feel so proud of her and I know that she will thrive there. It really is a relief.
Showing posts with label car seats. Show all posts
Showing posts with label car seats. Show all posts
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Hit & Run
My poor car was the victim of a hit and run yesterday, presumably in the TRU parking lot. No note, no sign of what hit me nothing.
So I've made a claim with my insurance company and a police report. Now I have to wait a week and a half to get my car estimated. It's going to cost me my deductible and because there is prior damage to the front bumper, I'm likely to get hit with depreciation. Maybe that's why there was no note left? The driver saw that it was already damaged and hoped I wouldn't notice?
Car seats in Canada are all to be replaced after any and all collisions. So in a panic I went to Sears and got a Graco MyRide to replace the Air Protect that I was whining about in this post but I also had the car seat that normally lives in my husband's car to worry about. I have no idea what I'm going to replace that with. At least insurance will pay for them.
Transport Canada and all the car seat manufactures state that a child seat needs to be replaced after any collision even if it was unoccupied and/or looks undamaged. There could be damaged that you can't see that could cause the seat to fail in a subsequent collision.
I'm lucky that my insurer follows this to the letter, but if yours tries to tell you otherwise, make sure you fight for replacement seats.
So I've made a claim with my insurance company and a police report. Now I have to wait a week and a half to get my car estimated. It's going to cost me my deductible and because there is prior damage to the front bumper, I'm likely to get hit with depreciation. Maybe that's why there was no note left? The driver saw that it was already damaged and hoped I wouldn't notice?
Car seats in Canada are all to be replaced after any and all collisions. So in a panic I went to Sears and got a Graco MyRide to replace the Air Protect that I was whining about in this post but I also had the car seat that normally lives in my husband's car to worry about. I have no idea what I'm going to replace that with. At least insurance will pay for them.
Transport Canada and all the car seat manufactures state that a child seat needs to be replaced after any collision even if it was unoccupied and/or looks undamaged. There could be damaged that you can't see that could cause the seat to fail in a subsequent collision.
I'm lucky that my insurer follows this to the letter, but if yours tries to tell you otherwise, make sure you fight for replacement seats.
Thursday, June 09, 2011
Against Manufacturers Instructions
One of them many "weird" things I'm into is extended rear facing. What that means is keeping your child in a rear facing car seat past the law of 1 year, 22 pounds and walking unassisted. Some people think I'm insane, I think I'm just doing what I think is best for my daughter.
So after I was in a car accident when baby was 4 months old, instead of buying another bucket seat, I bought a convertible seat(a seat that can go from rear facing to forward facing) as it made no sense to buy another bucket that she would only fit for a few more months versus something she would fit for a few years.
I bought a Safety First Air Protect on recommendation of a car seat forum. It has one of the tallest shells on the market(which I need for my off the charts for length baby) a high weight limit(40 pounds RFing, 50 FFing), a continuous harness(which is awesome for easy adjusting), it installed really easy, was fairly inexpensive, and has nice headwings for sleeping.
On suggestions from car seat technicians, I chose to ignore the manual that states you need to have the line level to the ground(a 45 degree angle) to protect the airway of a newborn. Well the bottom slots of this seat are so high there is no way it would fit a newborn. I wasn't using it for a newborn anyway so I installed more upright- closer to a 30 degree angle. I knew it was going against the manual, but to me, if it's good enough for the child of a tech, it's good enough for my child.
Well Safety First just clarified their position on more upright installs. No dice. Well installing my seat with the line level to the ground is closer to a 50-55 degree angle and the seat is practically horizontal when installed in my mid-size sedan. It makes the front passenger seat essentially unusable unless the passenger doesn't have legs. Very frustrating!
So I happen to have a spare seat at my disposal. It's a Safety First Alpha Omega Elite that normally lives in my husband's car. It also needs to have the line level to the ground but for whatever reason, it's line level to the ground seems to be at a true 45 degree angle so I can at least install the thing. Too bad I can't tighten the UAS on my own and even after my husband did it, I'm still not happy with the install. I bought this seat on impulse when I was 37w1d pregnant after having contractions the night before and panicking that we had no car seat for my husband's car. It's on sale! It's the last seat you'll ever need as it's RFing/FFing/booster seat! Ya, not really.
So now I have a car seat I can't use, a car seat I don't like and a baby that I need to get out of the house with. And no money right now to get a different seat. *sigh* I have one seat on a site to sell used items and I hope it will go quickly to finance my new seat, like a First Years True Fit. The things we do to keep our children safe.
There are times when I wish that I didn't know what I know because I would have carried on what I was doing the way I was doing it. Knowledge might be power, but you sometimes have to wish you don't know how to use it.
So after I was in a car accident when baby was 4 months old, instead of buying another bucket seat, I bought a convertible seat(a seat that can go from rear facing to forward facing) as it made no sense to buy another bucket that she would only fit for a few more months versus something she would fit for a few years.
I bought a Safety First Air Protect on recommendation of a car seat forum. It has one of the tallest shells on the market(which I need for my off the charts for length baby) a high weight limit(40 pounds RFing, 50 FFing), a continuous harness(which is awesome for easy adjusting), it installed really easy, was fairly inexpensive, and has nice headwings for sleeping.
On suggestions from car seat technicians, I chose to ignore the manual that states you need to have the line level to the ground(a 45 degree angle) to protect the airway of a newborn. Well the bottom slots of this seat are so high there is no way it would fit a newborn. I wasn't using it for a newborn anyway so I installed more upright- closer to a 30 degree angle. I knew it was going against the manual, but to me, if it's good enough for the child of a tech, it's good enough for my child.
Well Safety First just clarified their position on more upright installs. No dice. Well installing my seat with the line level to the ground is closer to a 50-55 degree angle and the seat is practically horizontal when installed in my mid-size sedan. It makes the front passenger seat essentially unusable unless the passenger doesn't have legs. Very frustrating!
So I happen to have a spare seat at my disposal. It's a Safety First Alpha Omega Elite that normally lives in my husband's car. It also needs to have the line level to the ground but for whatever reason, it's line level to the ground seems to be at a true 45 degree angle so I can at least install the thing. Too bad I can't tighten the UAS on my own and even after my husband did it, I'm still not happy with the install. I bought this seat on impulse when I was 37w1d pregnant after having contractions the night before and panicking that we had no car seat for my husband's car. It's on sale! It's the last seat you'll ever need as it's RFing/FFing/booster seat! Ya, not really.
So now I have a car seat I can't use, a car seat I don't like and a baby that I need to get out of the house with. And no money right now to get a different seat. *sigh* I have one seat on a site to sell used items and I hope it will go quickly to finance my new seat, like a First Years True Fit. The things we do to keep our children safe.
There are times when I wish that I didn't know what I know because I would have carried on what I was doing the way I was doing it. Knowledge might be power, but you sometimes have to wish you don't know how to use it.
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