My son is 2, so we turned him around to front-facing on his 2nd birthday, which was in late January. We have the Britax Boulevard 70 CS. My sister also has that for her 2-year-old son (her older son has an older Britax seat). They don't make the Boulevard 70 CS anymore, but now they make the Boulevard 70 G3: http://www.amazon.com/Britax-Marathon-70-G3-Convertible-Seat/dp/B00834D5SO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1366306523&sr=8-2&keywords=britax+boulevard+70+g3

I will probably buy that for this baby; I love the Boulevard 70 CS that we have and honestly have no complaints. The above link has it at nearly 5 stars with 300-some-odd reviews. It's expensive, yes, but you can get it at Babies R Us with a 20% off coupon (if it's not on sale - sales always eliminate your ability to use those coupons), I believe you can even order them from Bed Bath and Beyond (online, not in-store) with a 20% off coupon, or you can order from albeebaby.com when they have a good sale going. (I live in SC, they are in NY, but I have ordered a TON of stuff from them over the past two and a half years and have had no problems at all. They have free shipping at $99 and up (sometimes $49 and up), they ship pretty quickly, and their customer service is good. Their prices in general are very good, too.

Edited for typo

Rear facing till 2?? Thats a new one here we only have to go rear facing till 1 or unless your child reaches a certain height or weight. My son I had to face him forward before 1 because he was so tall he was pushing on the seat with his feet (not safe). With him we had a simple Graco seat we liked it but it was 9 years ago I am sure they have come up with something better. This time around I am going more for the one that is easy to install is a plus for me. I hate the seats where you need an engineering degree to install.

I'm not sure where you live, but CA is probably following the American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines, which were revised in late 2010:

http://www.aap.org/en-us/about-the-aap/aap-press-room/pages/AAP-Updates-Recommendation-on-Car-Seats.aspx?nfstatus=401&nftoken=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000&nfstatusdescription=ERROR:+No+local+token

They say rear-facing until age 2, even if your child's feet are hitting the back seat (my son's definitely were). The thought process is that when they are rear-facing, it puts less strain on their spines in an accident. I thought, "Oh, well, his legs are going to break like that/hit him in the face/etc," but when I read up on it, the logic was that it was better for your child to have a broken nose or broken legs/ankles than a broken neck.

We can have forward facing seats here in good ol' Indiana as well. Mine was given to us, but it's a Graco forward facing Convertible seat. 20 lbs minimum, and my 2 1/2 year old is still using it. Plan to move her to a booster soon. Our infant seat goes up to 25 lbs, so I made that last til my oldest daughter turned 1. Good luck!!

I'm so glad you posted this topic!!!! I was literally looking at them on Amazon all evening yesterday!! I'd like to know more. I found one, I think it may be evenflo so nothing fancy, it reclines and I really like that feature.

Rebecca, I came across some of the Britax ones last night as well...are they compact? I have a small car (Chevy Cruze) so there's not a whole lot of room in the backseat.

I'm not sure, but the Britax Boulevard fit in my husband's Honda Civic. When it's rear-facing, it has to be reclined more, which meant that the front passenger seat couldn't be very far back, but once it got turned around, it was much roomier. The base portion of it (not a removable base like an infant carrier) isn't that huge, so I'd imagine it would fit a Chevy Cruze, though to be honest I've never seen the inside of one. I know Britax *infant* seats/carriers have HUGE bases that people with midsize SUVs had trouble with.

The good news is that Britax's customer service is really good, so if you call them and tell them how much overhang you have on the base, they'll tell you if it's too much or if it's within the limits of safety.

***As a note to everyone, keep in mind that your infant seats/convertible car seats do have height restrictions as well as weight restrictions. I was joking that I could have kept my son in an infant seat until he was 1 because it goes up to 35 lbs (which he isn't even at age 2), but when I looked at the manual, I realized that he had more or less outgrown it the height restrictions by 6 or 7 months when we coincidentally switched to the convertible seat. (He's unusually tall.)

Here in SC, by law we are allowed to go front-facing after age 1 (and 20 lbs), but I followed the AAP guidelines. The NHTSA also recommends keeping your kids rear-facing as long as possible (so long as it's within the safety guidelines of your particular seat): http://www.nhtsa.gov/ChildSafety/step2

Rear facing till 2?? Thats a new one here we only have to go rear facing till 1 or unless your child reaches a certain height or weight. My son I had to face him forward before 1 because he was so tall he was pushing on the seat with his feet (not safe). With him we had a simple Graco seat we liked it but it was 9 years ago I am sure they have come up with something better. This time around I am going more for the one that is easy to install is a plus for me. I hate the seats where you need an engineering degree to install.

Rear facing is the safest for your child, a lot of parents rear face till 3-5.

I'm also looking, my infant one only goes up to 22lbs and he's over 18! But I did a lot of reading about safety and it seems the consensus is it's safest to keep them rear racing as long as possible. I am going to find one that goes rear for up to 40lbs since I have a big guy. I am also concerned about room. Even though I have a mid-size car (Acura TL), it is crammed on the passenger's seat with the infant seat. It would be nice to have a little more room...although my husband always drives now becuase it's too uncomfortable for him over there

I'm also looking, my infant one only goes up to 22lbs and he's over 18! But I did a lot of reading about safety and it seems the consensus is it's safest to keep them rear racing as long as possible. I am going to find one that goes rear for up to 40lbs since I have a big guy. I am also concerned about room. Even though I have a mid-size car (Acura TL), it is crammed on the passenger's seat with the infant seat. It would be nice to have a little more room...although my husband always drives now becuase it's too uncomfortable for him over there

I read this and thought at first that you were putting the infant seat *in* the front passenger seat - then I realized you must mean *behind* it

We put our infant seat in the middle (easier to do when you only have one child), which helped, even when we had our Accord. In my husband's Civic, we couldn't do that because it would affect both front seats too much, making it too uncomfortable for the driver. We moved it to the passenger side of the back, and it meant the passenger seat had to be moved up. Same when we switched to a convertible seat and had it rear-facing. It was not a problem at all front-facing.

Yes that's what I meant. I have thought about trying the middle, but just haven't yet. I'm sure my car is about the same size as the accord.

I'm also looking, my infant one only goes up to 22lbs and he's over 18! But I did a lot of reading about safety and it seems the consensus is it's safest to keep them rear racing as long as possible. I am going to find one that goes rear for up to 40lbs since I have a big guy. I am also concerned about room. Even though I have a mid-size car (Acura TL), it is crammed on the passenger's seat with the infant seat. It would be nice to have a little more room...although my husband always drives now becuase it's too uncomfortable for him over there

I read this and thought at first that you were putting the infant seat *in* the front passenger seat - then I realized you must mean *behind* it

We put our infant seat in the middle (easier to do when you only have one child), which helped, even when we had our Accord. In my husband's Civic, we couldn't do that because it would affect both front seats too much, making it too uncomfortable for the driver. We moved it to the passenger side of the back, and it meant the passenger seat had to be moved up. Same when we switched to a convertible seat and had it rear-facing. It was not a problem at all front-facing.

Yes that's what I meant. I have thought about trying the middle, but just haven't yet. I'm sure my car is about the same size as the accord.

Our Cruze is so small and my husband is a tall/thick guy we can't even put his seat in the center because where he has to have the seat it pushes on the carseat lol so we keep Jaxon's carseat behind the passenger seat and I ride in the middle in the back whenever we go anywhere. It's the most comfortable for all of us. I love the times we take my hubs' Chevy Silverado, SO much room for everyone and everything!!!! Hahaha