Mission: High Chair

Stephen started eating solid foods a little over a week and a half ago. Rice cereal mixed with a good amount of formula was the beginning, and since then we've been giving him a sampling of Gerber's finest fruits and vegetables (carrots, sweet potatoes, and apple sauce). The apple sauce was, by far, the most enjoyable provision of the three, but it also led to one or two very interesting diapers on the following afternoon.

The boy is quite a gastronome. We decided to try him on solids simply because he was so interested in all the things that my wife and I were eating in front of him. We'd give him a taste of this or that, but never more than a drop, a dribble, or a crumb. In the case of sweet or tart foods or drinks, he would invariably make a face, smack his lips, and then grin like a lunatic.

When we finally propped him up in his bouncy chair for his first solid meal, he took to it like he'd been eating solids since birth. That's not to say he was neat about it, but he had no trouble figuring out what he was supposed to do with the mush we were shoveling into his toothless maw. He also learned quickly to open his mouth so that we could get the next spoonful in.

Last weekend, I decided to myself that we needed to buy him a high chair. I'm sure my wife had come to the same conclusion. Sitting in that bouncy chair wasn't going to cut it for very long. Being prior to pay day, though, it wasn't really in the budget to run out and pick one up. Since yesterday was pay day, today was high chair day.

I'm a firm believer in old world wooden craftsmanship, but I also recognize that there is a certain value to modern chairs that are constructed from light-weight materials, and which come complete with reclining seats, nesting food trays, and five-point restraint systems. Besides, they all cost about the same, anyway.

We dropped in at Target first, but the selection of models left something to be desired. We went to Babies R Us, instead, which is where we finally settled on a Baby Trend high chair with a Palm Tree print on the seat pad. It seemed to have all the options that my wife wanted. The hardest part would be squeezing the box into the Hyundai.

Now we're home, and the chair is assembled and pushed against the wall in anticipation of Stephen's next solid meal. He's winding down at present, preparing to nap (whether or not he really wants to) after our big shopping trip. Tomorrow, we plan to attend the San Diego Comic Convention, if only for an hour or two. Today, I need to do a little bit of writing.