Chairs

[dancerjodi]

Mina is purely a toddler now, in the 'terrible two' sense of the word. Most times we are good at figuring out what she is wanting or what her motivations are. Last night was just interesting.

She hasn't wanted to sit in her booster seat/high chair. We long ago dropped the tray and she's up at the table with us. http://www.diapers.com/p/fisher-price-healthy-care-booster-green-blue-85165?site=CA&utm_source=Google&utm_medium=cpc_D&utm_term=FS-437&utm_campaign=GooglePLA&CAWELAID=1338730218&utm_content=pla&ca_sku=FS-437&ca_gpa=pla&ca_kw={keyword} . The seat is a bit high, but without it she is too low. Lately, she just doesn't want to sit in the seat. That's fine - she can sit in the big chair with help. But last night, she wanted to stand on the chair, climb up onto the table. She had little interest in eating her dinner (and she is typically a very good eater). Thankfully, the few bites she had with a glass of milk were enough for her to go to bed and sleep through the night. We were worried she'd be starving later on. This morning was more of the same. She wanted to sit on the chair herself and then on our lap. More and more she wants to mimic the big kid/big adult stuff. I'm wondering if we should find a way to get her little Ikea table into our dining room so she can sit at a kid chair, at a kid table. Of course, I don't want to set that up, because it would make dining at a restaurant difficult. We have similar challenges in restaurants. She doesn't want to be in the high chair, but we've had mixed (mostly negative) results with a booster. She ends up next to us on a chair with the table at chin level (too high) or she ends up on our lap. Or running around the restaurant with one of us, not eating. The girl's gotta move.

We do have another seat we use when travelling sometimes, kind of like this one only the bottom part of the seat is flat http://www.target.com/p/munchkin-travel-booster-seat-purple/-/A-11990151?ref=tgt_adv_XSG10001&AFID=Google_PLA_df&LNM=%7C11990151&CPNG=Baby&kpid=11990151&LID=PA&ci_src=17588969&ci_sku=11990151&gclid=CPfBnaKtjLoCFQSf4Aodv2cAaA . I found at our local thrift store for $2. We tried that on the chair and she didn't want to be strapped into that either. It isn't a height thing as much as a 'baby seat' thing. Amusingly enough, one of her favorite things lately is to sit on this seat on the floor, strap herself in, and then walk around the house with it strapped to her butt. Hilarious!

Have any of you parent friends dealt with this? She's definitely too big/independent for the booster, but she's too small/squrimy for the big chair on her own. It could purely be just her trying to assert herself, since this is one of the ways she can control her environment.

All in all, she is a fairly easy kid and the toddler challenges are totally 'reasonable' and to be expected. There are days though, oh boy! :)

Comments

[futurenurselady.livejournal.com]

Could you make her a "big girl" cushion? Maybe something that's made of support foam, and you can make her a slipcover for it with a "big girl" design that she picks out? You could even make a handle for it that would stick out of the cover, to make it easier to bring out with you.

We did this for my little sister with a phone book wrapped in quilt batting, but that was in the early 80s when phone books were giant-sized. She chose a Snoopy pattern fabric to go over it. She actually used it, since it was especially made for her, and didn't look like other kids' "baby seats."

[lsl.livejournal.com]

That's great idea!

[lsl.livejournal.com]

From what you are saying it sounds like she doesn't like to be strapped in, so maybe a booster option without a seatbelt would be better (if she's coordinated enough, which it sounds like she is).

We got Stokke Trip Trap chairs for our kids when they were toddler sized and still use them! They are pricey though. I can say they are very sturdy (Adults sit in them regularly. I even use them as step stools sometimes) and very adjustable. Theoretically they can be adjusted as adult chairs (although we haven't tried that because our kids are still using them). The thing I really liked about them besides the fact that they are stable/sturdy/adjustable is the foot rest. I think it made a big difference for our kids in their comfort sitting for longer periods if their feet aren't dangling. Wouldn't help with restaurants though.

From time to time Stokke has sales on certain colors, so if you're not picky about color you could save a little money. You may be able to find one used. The Stokke brand chairs are really well made so I wouldn't hesitate to get a used one. There are knock off ones too that are cheaper.

We are really close to being done with ours...

[lsl.livejournal.com]

Another thing that was good about them is that is it super easy for little kids to climb into them on their own (using the foot rest as a step). Mina might like that independence. Of course, if you use the seatbelt she wouldn't be able to get down on her own until she figured out how to unbuckle it.

[tiamatlady]

The video on the Stokke website is HILARIOUS! And these are awesome! Seems worth the cost of them, especially if it solves toddler fury issues. :)

[shnells.livejournal.com]

from other people that i've talked to, the kid sized chair with the kid sized table is usually very effective. i managed to find a little tikes picnic table at a yard sale that i'm also planning to use. inara went through not wanting to sit in her high chair that she had from when she was a baby which was a very padded winnie the pooh thing. luckily she finds the ikea high chair a more grown up option so we are using that right now. we don't really eat out often given all my food restrictions so that really isn't an issue for us though.

[dee-cee.livejournal.com]

LR stopped using a booster seat ...man, I don't remember how long now. He wanted to be like big sister.

The downside is that he climbs down during dinner, and doesn't always eat as much as I'd hope. I read some articles and forums, and at this stage it's all about choosing battles, so I'm letting this one run it's course.

[nepenthedreams]

Sounds JUST like Kai at that age.
We basically never used a booster. He wanted to be more "free". We would try to find restaurants with a corner table, so we could box him in, and give him a place to roam within a "fence" so to speak. Otherwise the kid would just run right out the door (like he did in Costa Rica - right onto the main road!) That or he'd want to sit in our laps so we did that for a while.

At home, we haven't used a high chair since he was a baby. As soon as he could sit at the table, he wanted to, even if it meant he had to kneel to be tall enough. We found that banquette seating at restaurants was good for him. I'd sit on the outside, so he'd get about two people's worth of seating to "roam".

Overall, eating out was a challenge for a while but we kept it up and now he's pretty good in restaurants, as long as he's got some action figures to play with.