highchair

while in thunder bay, ava sat at the table in an antique high chair. this particular chair is probably around 200 years old - constructed eons before the advent of infant safety standards. it's incredibly tippy and has no tray or restraints whatsoever. but . . . it happened to be just ava's size this trip, she could climb in and out on her own, and she refused to sit in anything else.

mommy's no dummy, and i suspected this might have some influence on her seating choice back in california. fortunately her chair back home converts into a booster chair (no tray or buckles) and i planned to have john get around to it very very soon. we didn't get around to it our first evening back though, and it was with much trepidation that i picked her up and lowered her into her highchair for lunch the day after we returned. to my surprise . . . no fuss. ate her lunch . . . all was well . . . and then . . . she tried to get out. code red meltdown. after extracting her from the highchair (no small trick when she's kicking, flailing and arching her back) the meltdown continued until i caved in, went down to the garage and pawed through john's biking gear until i located the magic allen key and dismantled the "baby parts" on the spot

so, ava now sits up like a big girl at the grownup table. it doesn't seemed to have stopped her from shoving most food into her mouth as fast as humanly possible.