Highchair

So now that Alex is 6 months, we've started him on solids. The week or two before that, I was looking in to getting a highchair. I looked at the store and gagged at how the good ones were about $100, so I decided to look for used. If I'd been smart, I would have been looking since Alex was born, but I didn't know for sure if I even wanted a highchair, or if I just wanted a booster seat that attached to a dining chair. Once I decided on getting a highchair, I could finally start looking. So I went on Craig's List and KSL, but I didn't see anything promising near where I live. But I kept looking every day and eventually I found one that looked good. It's a Graco Meal Time chair (found here). It has different heights, reclines, and wheels around. At first I wasn't sure if I liked that it has wheels, but now I am so glad. I wheel Alex around everywhere. When it's time to eat, I wheel him in the kitchen to feed him. If he gets fussy, I wheel him into the living room to watch Baby Signing Time or I can wheel him next to where I'm at so I can interact with him. It's wonderful.

Another wonderful thing I discovered (which makes me wish I'd gotten one sooner) is it's a great toy! The baby gym is nice, but I think all the time he's had on his back has given him a bit of a flat head in back. I've been told it will round out when he's not on his back so much, but still, I don't like it. Well, the highchair gives him a great place to play while sitting. I've been trying to get a used exersaucer for that reason (and he really liked the one he was able to play with at my parents-in-law's house), but I haven't had any luck yet and new ones are way too expensive for our budget. Until I find one (or he gets too old to need one), I have the highchair. I just stick all of Alex's toys on the tray and let him at it. He can sit there pretty content for quite awhile playing. It's really nice. And it gets him off of his back.

So yeah, I'm pretty happy with my highchair. And that is the reason I'm glad I decided against the booster chair that attaches to a dining chair. My highchair has some great features about it that I really like. Plus, in my kitchen a booster seat would have taken up just as much room (you should see my dining area: I have a table against two walls and three chairs around the other two sides of it. Then I have an armchair next to two of the chairs, so those chairs are unusable. This leaves one chair left that can be used. If I were to use that for the booster chair, I would have no chairs left. Or I could pull one of the chairs out from the table where its pinned, but then it would be perpetually in the way, just like a highchair, but the highchair at least can be folded up and easily rolled out of the way, making it a whole lot easier to handle). So I'm really happy with my purchase. The only thing that would make me happier would be to have one of the new cuter designs and to have a Graco Contempo chair because they fold up even slimmer than the Meal Time chair does. But it wasn't worth paying three times as much.

So yeah, I'm very happy. Yay!