Booster Blur

Here’s our situation: baby Angelina is about ready for a convertible carseat. We already have two Evenflo Titan Vs which we love, but I can’t fathom getting a third, and I’m not sure if we even have room for a third in the backseat of our car (a Toyota Camry). So I’m hoping we can move Bella (turning 4 in May) into a booster. However, she’s small-average for her age, weighing only about 33 lbs. From what I’m seeing, some 5-point harness boosters can accommodate kids her size and then grow with them as they get larger and ready to use the car’s seatbelt.

Here are the features of my ideal booster:

(1) very narrow: this is key since we’re working with the backseat of a Camry with two convertible carseats already in there

(2) 5-point harness but can eventually become a booster for use with the seatbelt

(3) performs very well on safety tests, good reputation for safety

(4) not expensive

Any suggestions, dear miracle workers?

And then my thoughts wander… just how many infant seats and convertible seats and booster seats do most large families with kids close in age own these days? My dad was one of six, and I’m pretty sure they all piled into the far-back of a station wagon with no seatbelts while the babies lay on the floor of the car with pacifiers and rattles. What’s a twenty-first century family to do?