How did we find ourselves with three kids and needing a high chair? One would think that we have every necessary baby accessory by now. But during this move, the high chair we'd used with Ayla and Jackson was left behind. It was a beautiful wooden (antique?) chair that had weathered the biter biscuits, yogurt and smooshed pasta. Before Elliot was born, Gregory's father thoroughly cleaned and refinished it.... leaving it in much nicer condition than our children did. And now that Gregory's parents are grandparents four times with babies visiting often - that beautiful highchair should stay at their house.
Unfortunately, that meant we had to buy a highchair! And I was not excited about the prospect of dropping the absurd amounts of money that highchairs require. $300!!! - no way, I could get a new washer for that! I thought about using our swing as an alternative... but it has toys attached to the tray and Elliot was more interested in eating those than his pureed carrots. I had hopes that we could forgo the chair and just hold him while he eats, but that is an insanely messy endeavor.
Do you see now that I am cheap? Plus, this is too late to be making a major baby investment. I won't say Elliot is our last baby for sure (because if I declared that to the world, I'd be pregnant with twins in a minute as punishment), but I'd rather not spend money on things that we only need for a year.
Finally, I found something on ToyRUs.com that seemed reasonable, the cute Inglesina table chair. It's perfect! The price point was a perfect compromise for me. I can spend $60 on a little chair that fits on our table at home, but can be easily taken off and travel with me to restaurants. I used it twice during my last visit to Pittsburgh and everyone in restaurants was intrigued.
Elliot loves sitting with us at the table, as well as his opportunities to grab at everyone else's plates. It is surprisingly secure, not like past models that children used when I was growing up. Apparently those table chairs dropped to the floor constantly... a funny prospect when it's happening to someone else, but not my Elliot!
Two drawbacks:
(1) It doesn't fit on every table. I couldn't fit the "legs" all the way under the table trim at Azul's, but attached it to the table edge instead. Most parents wouldn't be comfortable with that, but I sat underneath Elliot to catch him in a disaster... but it held for the 45 minutes I needed it to!
(2) To secure the twist-tight coupling, you have to turn it LEFTY-tighty, RIGHTY-loosey. Now that messes with your brain!
And while I wouldn't call it a drawback, Elliot loves kicking and bouncing in this little chair. His excitement shakes our Ikea table and spills drinks constantly. Oh well, I'll take spilled coffee over spending hundreds of dollars on a huge highchair anytime.
I like that it lets the wee ones sit at the table with the rest of the family. Ingrid and Greta were soooo tiny (not 20 lbs at one year) that the bouncing wasn't really noticible.
ReplyDelete