When Jack was a baby he had a Graco car seat that he loved. He would even sleep in it. He rarely fussed in it, in fact when he was almost 3 months old, he and I drove from NY to Florida and back without a problem. The only time he cried was when I got stuck in traffic on the DC beltway going down.

We got a Graco double stroller when we had Tor and it came with an infant car seat. It was pretty cool because we got it for free with Brian's Am Ex points. Jack's old car seat was a little beat up so we used the new one. They were both Graco and they looked the same to us except for the pattern. Well Tor hated his car seat. He cried and screamed any time he was put in it and then put in the car. Grandma Jackie said it was because he hated riding backwards and not being able to see the world. The poor kid cried until he was a year old AND 20 lbs and we put him in a new Britax car seat facing forwards. That seemed to confirm what Jackie said.

We had Liv and we pulled out Tor's car seat again. Jack has long since been given away. Well once she was a little older than a newborn and awake more than asleep she started screaming anytime the car seat was placed in the car too. Both Tor and Liv were ok in the car seat before it was placed in the car, but once in the car it was awful. Jackie said that Liv was just like Tor :).

We drove out to Cape Cod for our anniversary and Liv just hated the trip. It was 5.5 hours and despite us moving her car seat to the back row and sitting with her, she still cried. Once we got out there we rearranged the car seats and put her behind me again (for better access) and it was a nightmare. The traffic out there is awful so anytime we left the resort (for lunch, dinner, activities) she cried a lot and the stop and go traffic made it worse. Her constant crying in the car seat broke our hearts, drove us insane, and made my chest hurt. It just overall made us feel awful and helpless. What's worse is she is a really good baby, she never fusses.

We left on a Thursday and by Sunday I had enough. I got on Brian's laptop and researched all sorts of car seats. Ones from $40 to $400 dollars. After reading what seemed like hundreds of customer reviews we settled on a Graco SafeSeat from Amazon. This one has more padding and it lasts until the child is 30lbs instead of 20lbs. We had it shipped to us for free and received it on Wednesday. She loves it. The only time she fussed was when we were stuck in traffic, and then it was just upset noises. It wasn't the screaming like she was just being born again. She did really great on the trip home, she even slept most of it.

Since we have been home she has been great. I took her with me to Tor's class and she sat in the car seat the whole time and watched the kids play. I got her out the last 5 minutes and then put her in for the drive home and she fell asleep. It is amazing. All three car seats were Graco yet I guess they are different.

I talked with my friend who is a child psychologist because I was worried I somehow scarred Tor because he hated his car seat for a year! She said that when I first started the story she KNEW the car seat had nothing to do with it but by the time I finished thought I did a great job figuring it out. She said she would have never thought the problem was the car seat, so I got kudos for that. She also said that I didn't scar him for life. I explained that Jack is an easy going kid and Tor isn't :). She said that kids are not born with a blank slate like most people think, that they are born with their own temperaments. I still feel guilty that I didn't think it was the car seat. Oh well. She reminded me that he doesn't have an aversion to his car seat now. That's true.

The good news is that riding in the car is a pleasant experience now. Even more pleasant for Brian since he got a new car!