Well now that my son is 2, we're officially an extended rear facing family. Did you know the American academy of pediatricians recommends rear facing until at least 2, or preferably until your child outgrows the rear facing limits of his/her car seat? Up until 2, rearfacing is 500% safer. After that we don't know exactly how much safer it is, but we know it's safer, we know that a child's spine doesn't completely ossify, or harden, until an average of 4 years, and we know motor vehicle accidents are the number 1 killer of children under 12.

Car seats for the littles is a great page on facebook that has certified car seat technicians (the closed group), where you can post pictures and find out if your child fits in his seat and if it's properly installed. I did all the wrong things with my daughter 9 years ago, thankfully we weren't involved in an accident, but now even she is safer in a booster because someone pointed out a mistake and led me to look into proper car seat safety.