Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Twenty Pounds: The Impossible Dream

Texas law says that a child must be 12 months old AND weigh 20 pounds or more before you can turn their car seat around to face forward. Since Riley was not quite 16 pounds at her 9-month appointment, she's got a ways to go before she'll every be able to turn around.

I'm sure I am more concerned with facing Riley forward than she is, since she doesn't know the difference. But it will be a whole lot more convenient for me because her car seat will then fit behind the driver's seat. This means I won't have to circle around the car to get her in and out. But more importantly, I won't have to wedge her out between the car and the wall of our narrow garage. Cars must have been narrower in the 1970s.

Since Riley won't have another pediatrician appointment between now and her fateful 12-month mark, I'm wondering how I can weigh her. Not that knowing her weight will get her any closer to 20 pounds, but I'm curious. I've done the dog scale at the vet, but she's too big for her baby seat, and I certainly don't want to put her directly on the scale. We don't own a bathroom scale, so that's out. Are those scales packaged in boxes at the store? If not, maybe we could stop by Target and "borrow" one.

If any of you have other weigh-in suggestions, feel free to share. The more creative, the better. I'm all about an experience that could turn into a future blog post.

8 comments:

Trotts said...

How many pounds does a meat scale hold?

The Higginbothams said...

I don't know why you would even bother with the trouble of weighing her. You know she's going to weigh like 17 lbs. Sorry to be a downer, but just be happy you don't have a child kicking the back of your seat.

Anonymous said...

Becca,
Weight yourself and then weigh both of you, voila you have Riley's weight. Of course, Target wouldn't mind you borrowing their scale. Miss you.....Jenn Scott

Suzy said...

I'd just put her up on the scale in the produce section at the HEB ;). How about a gym? Or bring your bumbo chair to the vet or petsmart and she can sit in that instead of her car seat.
Check out this vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2DVfqFhseo&NR=1
After seeing it, I planned on keeping Lucas rear facing for a long time... then he got too whiny. It's much easier to pass him raisins now.

Alicia said...

I have to agree with Jess, there's no way your kid is even close to 20 pounds. But I would vote for either the produce scale at the supermarket or someone in your neighborhood must own a scale...

Scot said...

I think that Becca wants to track the weight to see if she is on track to being close to 20 pounds in 2 months. This would just be the 10 month weight with two more months of packing on the pound(s). If she were 17 pounds and a little bit, that would be ok, because she was ~16 pounds at 9 months. If we can just get her to gain a little over a pound a month, we'll be there.

emily said...

Hey Becca! Austin's coworker and his wife are idiots and decided to deliver their own baby at home...yes, just the two of them. Don't get me started...I get fuming mad everytime I think about it. Anyway, there is a point to my story, I promise. I just remember that they said that they had to take her down to the post office to get her weighed. I guess they weighed a box and then put the baby in the box and deducted the box's weight. Not sure I'd recommend it for a squirmy 9 month old, but thought I'd share since you seemed to be wanting a creative suggestion!:)

Tami said...

Camden was 16 pounds 9 ounces at his 9 month checkup, and he was not 20 pounds at a year. He stayed rear facing a bit longer then that, but I think I cheated and turned him around a couple ounces early. I kept Parker rear facing for almost 3 years ;) I agree with the pp, weigh yourself with Riley, and then put her back in the cart and weigh yourself (I'm assuming you'd be at Target ;) This is actually how we weigh Parker at the Dr.'s office right now!