Baby On Board

Today was a day I've been waiting for since before our lion baby was born: Leo's first day riding around town in the bakfiets! He loved it. Luke and Jaz and Zeb loved it. We all loved it. And I was startled by how free I felt, riding off with Leo this morning. It reminded me of how I felt when Bakfietsy first arrived, finally allowing me to comfortably bike around with all three of my children. Since Leo's birth, biking has been limited to those times when I don't have the baby with me. I've had to drive to work a whole lot more than I ever thought I would (because I often bring Leo with me to work in the morning, and then Lena picks him up a couple of hours later). After I began my car-light challenge (which is going splendidly, I might add), I realized that I really was going to have to figure out a way to get Leo on the bike in order for it to be feasible, time-wise.

All along I've been figuring that the solution for baby + bakfiets is to put a car seat in the bak (box). This is what has worked for many other families. Work Cycles (the company that makes the bakfiets that I have) even makes an infant car seat adaptor for use in the Netherlands. But finding a car seat that would work in our bakfiets turned out to be much harder than I anticipated. Any car seat would have worked fine all on its own, but I wanted one that would leave space for two bigger kids to ride in the bak as well. None of the car seats that we had on hand for our vehicles (the britax boulevard and chaperone and the sunshine kids radian) were good candidates. Then, just a few weeks ago, I discovered the Combi Coccoro online, and felt quite optimistic about its potential. It only weighs 11 lbs. It is touted as being one of the narrowest and shortest (from bottom to top of the shell) car seats, designed to be compatible with "smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles" (I doubt that the manufacturers had the Bakfiets in mind, but it totally fits the bill!). It is also fully lined in energy absorbing EPS foam, which some of the less expensive seats I looked at lack. Lastly, I like that it has deep side wings, offering Leo yet more protection. Even though Leo could probably sit up just fine in the "seal seat" on my rear rack at this point (or even on the bench in the bak), I feel much better with him in a car seat. I always hated it when Zeb would fall asleep in the bakfiets because he'd just slump over (on the bench or in the rear seat). Leo will be able to sleep peacefully in the Coccoro, and I'm guessing that I'll keep him in there until he's about 2.


The Coccoro arrived yesterday (I purchased it a couple of weeks ago, but it was back-ordered), and I got right to work trying to install it in the bakfiets. And it worked! Hooray! Leo's first bike ride was to go to music class this morning. After music class, we rode over to Cradle to visit Katie (who works there on Wednesdays and Fridays). And then we took the bike to pick up Luke and Jaz at school (they get out at noon on Wednesdays). Luke and Jaz were so excited to see Leo in the bakfiets! Luke said, "Leo! It's finally your turn!" And neither of them complained about their drastically reduced leg room. In fact, I'd say it was their most enthusiastic ride home ever (I'm sure it won't last, but I'll enjoy it while it does). And Leo just grinned at his big brothers the whole way back to the house.


It's also really lovely for me to get to see Leo so easily while I'm riding. I can see that his head isn't jostling all around, and that he's peaceful and warm enough. In the end, I'm fine with the fact that it took me 7 months to figure out a biking solution for all four of my kids. I'm glad that Leo can wear a helmet now (since it's the law here for all kids to wear them), and that he's such a sturdy guy at this point. I got nothing but friendly smiles and comments from strangers in town which validated my thinking that Leo is, in fact, big enough to ride now.

Leo, 7 months old

Of course, biking is never 100% safe (nor is driving, or walking, climbing trees or countless other things that we do with little worry), but I felt safe riding around with Leo today. Safe and free.