October 28, 2002 - Monday
I'm a few days early installing Jeremy's new forward-facing car seat. Formally, children are suppose to face backward until they are a year old and weight 20 lbs. Of course, Jeremy's been heavy enough for quite a while, but apparently their neck muscles need to get strong enough to withstand a certain amount of fast braking and that's why the one year recommendation. Jeremy turns one year this weekend, but his little feet have been crammed into the back seat and the old seat is clearly getting too small.

I'd been thinking about switching seats some time this week and ended up doing it today after an aborted trip to the playground. It was too cold outside for Harry and, even though I brought and quickly changed him into his winter coat, he somehow lost interest in the "lots and lots of slides." Poor Jeremy seemed ready to play, but Harry ultimately has more control of what the three of us do on a given day. So, feeling a little guilty for Jeremy on the way home (it would almost another hour before their mother got home for dinner), I decided that maybe we'd take a little drive with Jeremy facing forward. It only took a few minute to get the new seat in and Jeremy seemed quite pleased with the new perspective. I distinctly remember being surprised that Harry wasn't more excited about facing forward at first and that made Jeremy's excitement all the more refreshing. Of course, Jeremy's had the advantage of watching Harry face forward for a year now and probably at some level realizes that he's graduated, a perspective Harry may not have had.

Still, I can't help but search my memory as to whether Jeremy is actually a happier boy than Harry was at this age. In these days of Harry being a two-year-old and Jeremy being the sweet and smiling one-year-old, it certainly seems that way. I remember Harry being a smart boy, a clever boy, and benevolent boy who was wonderful to have around, but I'm awfully tempted to think of Jeremy as the "happier" boy. I do believe Harry was more headstrong and a little more moody than Jeremy's calmer demeanor, but happier is hard to say. Of course, if Harry were this happy at one year, that would mean that a two-year-old Jeremy won't always been so sweet. Alas, I guess that's likely to be this case.


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