Thursday, August 21, 2008

Unnecessary Distraction

Mike and I have realized that it's been about nine months since we have been able to eat dinner at the same time.

Since Jack is big enough to sit in a high chair at the table now, and has been for some time, we decided to get a portable booster seat to take with us when we go out to eat. Sitting in restaurant high chairs (ick) is ok other than the cleanliness factor, but now that he's starting to eat some finger foods, the idea of him eating off the restaurant table (double ick) is more than I can stomach. Yes, I'm one of those people who doesn't let her silverware touch the table. Mike's request was that the booster have a tray, and this is the one I found:

Pretty cool... the toys are on a separate tray that snaps into the eating tray- all of which is dishwasher safe. The advertising says it entertains baby while you prepare food... or in our case so we can eat our meal at the same time. The toys being attached are a big plus, too, since Jack's current favorite game is throw/ knock everything from the tray onto the floor. Fine for home- not so much fine for restaurants.

Don't get me wrong, this is the kind of thing that before I had kids I would have laughed at. I used to think, people will buy ANYTHING not to have to deal with their children. Just stick the kid in a regular old high chair and give him a wooden spoon to play with. Better yet, hold your baby! He's throwing his toys on the floor? Don't let him! Well the me before kids didn't know what it was like to eat cold meals more often than not...

No, Jack doesn't need these unnecessary distractions. And yes, I'm usually perfectly happy to entertain him while we eat. In addition, as he gets older he's even beginning to entertain himself and participate in some parts of the meal. But, he's enjoying his new seat, all the same!

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2 comments:

amosclarkson said...

I got Eli one that doesn't have the fun toys but had a hard time getting him to fit in it while at his grandparents. I'm going to try again soon and maybe it he still doesn't fit, I'll try the one you bought to see if it works better. Good idea to take to restaurants...never thought of that! I bought ours to take to family/friends' houses.

Shannon Dingle said...

It doesn't have fun toys on it, but we have a placemat that suctions to restaurant tables that we use with Jocelyn. We got it at Babies R Us, and it works marvelously! We started using it at about 10 months or so, and she's still loving it at 19 months! (I do think the booster seat you got is really cool, though. I would consider getting one, but Jocelyn has decided that she is too big for booster seats or high chairs and just sits at the table like a grown-up now! Hmm, maybe I'll consider getting one of these for baby number two...)

By the way, life has been hectic lately, but I promise I will write a long email catching you up on what's going on with us soon! So glad we found one another online, and it's so funny that you and my friend Christina have a couple mutual friends. Small world!