Equipment Post - Bike Trailer and Special Tomato Sitter

The equipment posts continue with a bicycle trailer and sitter.

In Step Bicycle Trailer (note: ours is an older model so not exactly the same item as in the link here) 

• A friend passed the bicycle trailer down to us and it is a big hit with Emma.  She loves when we pull out the trailer to go on bicycle rides and whines incessantly until she gets in the trailer and hits the road.  Seriously, we have to try and hide it from her until it's all set up and ready to go!
• The trailer is designed for two children (I think that would be a tight fit but we don't use it that way anyway) and we put Emma's Special Tomato Sitter in the middle and attach it with the straps around the sling-type seat it has.  
• There is enough room behind the seat to include a soft side medium size cooler for our lunches and a picnic blanket with some room to spare.  It also has two mesh pockets on the sides that could hold a sippy cup or other items.  
• The legroom for Emma is enough but I would not consider it spacious.  Emma is very long, though, and the sitter reduces the legroom a bit.  She seems quite comfortable, though, and Julia has sat in it and told us it's comfortable and not cramped.  I guess we are just used to much more legroom but Emma keeps her legs bent in a sitting position instead of out in front of her.  You can see in the photo above how her legs are nicely bent and her feet are hitting the trailer in the front.  
• It folds up really easily for transporting in the car and it attaches to the bicycle quickly.  You basically screw the attachment thing to your bicycle and the bike trailer loops into it with a metal loop thingy.  Notice how savvy I am by pulling out my technical terms ;-)  From folded to up and running it takes about 3 minutes but apparently that is still a bit too long for Emma to wait if you heard her tell it!
• I had thought of these in the past but never thought Emma would be able to sit in the trailer for any length of time so I didn't want to invest in one.  I'm so glad it came together for us with the hand me down trailer and the sitter to make it possible for Emma to enjoy a bike ride.  We really love how the bicycle trailer gives us the chance to spend lots of time as a family being active.  We often pack it up in the car along with a blanket and picnic, hook our bicycles to the car bike rack and head out for a day in the city park.  

Special Tomato Sitter

I wanted to show a full shot of Emma.  As an added bonus you can see my messy yet functional sewing/craft table!  

• Emma received this as her birthday present last year so she could be at table level for family meals.  We bought her the size 2 which is targeted to fit children age 2 - 6 years.
• This material is easy to clean and the harness cover can be placed in the washer - nice features considering Emma is one messy eater!
• The harness is easy to adjust but it seems like we never have it at the perfect setting.  I guess that is because Emma is hard to get a great fit since she is quite squiggly at mealtimes.  I sometimes find this annoying.  
• The sitter is very light and easily portable.  It has two easily adjustable straps to attach it to chairs - one goes around the chair back and the other goes around the chair seat.  How you attach the straps allows you to position the sitter - either on an angle or straight up and down.  Emma's is on a bit of an angle since head control at mealtimes is a bit hard for her.
• The sitter can be used in the Special Tomato Jogger, but we use the liners instead.  We most often use this chair to eat and in the bike trailer which makes me very happy to have one piece of equipment that can function in multiple settings.  Emma would not be able to sit in the bike trailer without this sitter.

If you want to know more about any of the items in the Equipment series, please leave a comment and I'll respond!  Thanks!