Car Seats and Growing Up

Now that Ellie is 8 she no longer needs to be in a booster seat. This is strange to me.  I still can't quite make myself take it out of the van yet. The idea that she doesn't need that second layer of security in a crash hasn't registered.  She a big kid.  You would think that this would have been something that I would have had an issue with with Caden, being that he's the oldest and I went through this with him two years ago.  His transition was during a major car seat overhaul though. I kept him in a booster for a few months past his 8 years,  moved Ellie down from a high-backed booster to just the regular booster, moved Vince to the 5 point harness booster and olivia to the convertable car seat.  Everyone was moving up.  This time it's a little different. It's just the one kid. I'm not quite ready to move her out and to be honest, when we don't have all these snow days, she's not really in the van a whole bunch.  Maybe when I clean the disgusting thing out I'll move her booster out as well.  As I'm sitting here typing this on my phone in the doctor's office waiting for Ellie's 8year check up,  this all sounds dumb.  I think it's more about the transition from a family of little kids to a family of school aged kids. I look at other families with 4 kids that are all older than mine and try to imagine what our lives will be like when we no longer think that "wiener" is the funniest topic of conversation. Or when olivia running around the house in a tutu and boots becomes weird instead of part of a normal day.  What will it be like to have kids that are self sufficient and can all shower themselves and get their own glass of water?  It's exciting and scary at the same time.  But I guess that's kind of parenting in general.  Ok, time to go back with the doctor. No shots today at least!