Big Kid Problems.
If you have a kid at the top of the growth charts, you know all about this. Nothing fits. If it does, it doesn't fit for long. The tall one was 25lbs at 6 months. So by the time it was developmentally appropriate to use something like a Jumperoo Neglectomatic, he was over the weight limit. I never knew the joy of contained baby fun after 6 months. It was like living with a diapered Godzilla.
It's not just the jumperoos though. Biking was where we felt this the most. When he was about 15 months, I got an iBert baby seat. It has one of the higher weight limits for a front loading seat at 38lbs. My kid loved it. We went on long 20 and 30 km bike rides along the seawall, though the park, everywhere really. That lasted one summer. By the time the next summer rolled around, he was over the weight limit. The rear mounted seats at the time only went a few lbs heavier than that, and he was right at the edge. Because he was a young two and a half, none of the solutions (trail a bikes, etc) which met the weight criteria were developmentally appropriate. Family biking was at an end until he could keep up on his own.
ENTER THE CARGO BIKE
Shortly before the car smashing debacle, I saw what I now know to be a Bakfiet cruising around one day. I did a bit of Googling, and dismissed the notion given how expensive they were. After the car was smashed though, I started doing more research into cargo bikes in general. I discovered the wonderful world of electric pedal assists, longtails, midtails, basket bikes. I wasn't entirely sure I wanted to take the plunge, so I did two things that I recommend anyone contemplating this do. First, I rented an electric bike for a week. I felt I would be a little weirded out by electric, and I wanted to see how functional it actually was.
Answer? VERY. I would love to bike to work, but it's about 10k each way, which isn't bad, but there are several hills, and not always a chance to shower. I'm also sometimes coming home at 1 in the morning. None of these were a problem with an electric bike. I was still pedaling, but the hills disappeared, my commute was faster, and I still smelled civilized. It was fantastic.
The second thing I did was a weekend trip to Portland (with the body shop loaner car.) I tried out a basket bike (if I had an unlimited budget, I would get one. So much fun), a Yuba Mundo, and an Xtracycle. While they advertise themselves as all being able to carry a couple hundred pounds of offspring, I wanted to see if my kid could handle it. He totally could.
I can't explain how happy having this option makes me. My son outgrew being a bike passenger, but he doesn't understand why. When I try to explain that he's over the weight limit, it's not something he can understand at this point. He always wants to go on bikes, and is constantly trying to climb on mine.
After much debate and weighing the pros and cons (financial and otherwise!), I decided on the Pedego Stretch. My car was finished at the body shop, I sold it and walked into the bike shop and purchased the first Stretch to be sold in Canada.
Unfortunately, the tall one was at his dad's for the weekend, and the Yepp Maxi childseat I ordered for the short one was held up in customs. So fancy new bike, and I was unable to ride it anywhere for the first few days.
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I got sidetracked and didn't get past this and publish. It's now been almost a month, and the kids and I LOVE commuting via bike. I'll do an updated post.
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