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Sporting the remains of her new favorite treat, ice cream.

We finally turned Az's car seat to the forward facing position, and I'm still of very heavily mixed feelings about it. I only waited until Z was a year old to turn his car seat from the rear-facing position but with a decade more of research under the books I wasn't comfortable turning Az so soon. Although it's legal for a baby to ride in the car facing forward on their first birthday, it isn't nearly as safe. I've watched enough Myth Busters to not be gung ho about the turning the car seat ceremony.

I had originally thought I would wait until Az reached the rear facing weight limit of 40 pounds to turn her around. The American Pediatric Association recommends this. On Az's birthday she hovered somewhere around 25 pounds, so those 40 pounds might see her in first grade. Since she is so light I didn't turn her on her second birthday like I had originally planned, which was a little bitter-sweet. I really love that moment of being able to turn the seat and suddenly having a baby in the car with me that is so much more present. I love the greatly expanded view the baby gets. But even more than that, I love knowing my baby is as safe as I can make possible.

Miguel was really pushing for turning her seat though. He felt bad that her space was getting so cramped; her legs no longer had anywhere to go so she was forced into criss-cross apple-sauce most of the time. (I have no idea what the PC version of the term is these days, so I'll use the term most kindergarteners know.) I felt bad about this too, but again I wanted her as safe as possible.

Miguel obviously won, and Az was turned around. I really am enjoying having her be a part of the crowd now. We are able to talk more and I can see what's going on with her much easier. It is really neat hearing her talk about all of the things she can see now. This morning there was a cat way down the road I could barely make out and she was already excitedly talking about it. I also am realizing that she is much better at longer car rides than I had realized. It turns out most of the time she was crying for seemingly no reason before was actually because her brother was encroaching on her space in some way. Now I'm able to see what is going on back there much easier.

It's also a lot easier to get Az in and out of the car seat, which is fantastic. There are so many great things about Az facing forward in her car seat. Still though I do sort of wish we had waited a little longer, until she weighed closer to the weight limit. It's not like me to give in to peer pressure. I don't think I'm going to be able to convince Az to go back to rear-facing now that she's experienced the good life though.