The Lazy Boy of High Chairs

I think it's time for a new high chair. The one we have is a hand-me-down, and to my sister-in-law's defense, she warned me that she, and I quote, "hated" it before I naively accepted it. Like many things, you never know how good or bad something is until you try it yourself. This is so true for new Moms, and as time and experience tells us, something that you thought you had to have doesn't fit your needs after all. This high chair worked wonderfully... up until the time Adam actually started eating.

As an infant seat, I loved that it could be raised and lowered or reclined, perfect for having Adam close while working in the kitchen or folding laundry on the couch. Then the day came when Adam started self-feeding, and all my happy thoughts about the seat began to shift.

First off, the tray size is enormous! My peanut is further dwarfed by the immense size of the tray. Seriously, how could he ever possibly reach the far side of it?? Ok, perhaps when he's 4.

Of course, perhaps if Adam could actually sit upright in the seat he might actually be able to eat over his food instead of reclining back to ingest it. That recline feature I loved? Turns out it reclines great! It's the sitting up part that's the problem. The seat doesn't sit him up at 90-degrees so he's sitting back and kind of slouched while eating.

Yes, yes, I'm positive it's sitting up all the way.

As I mentioned, we no longer use the food tray and instead use the snack tray. And we end up with this:

Yes, the Lazy Boy of high chairs. Wouldn't every man love to be able enjoy dinner while kicked back like this, heels propped on the table and all?

Needless to say, we are now in the market for a new chair. I have test-driven some friends' chairs. I love how Adam sits in the Graco Blossom 4-in-1 if we were going to get another traditional highchair. Right now I am leaning toward getting one that straps to a dining chair, as space is an issue at our condo. We will test out cousin Jake's Fisher Price Space Saver when we are in IL for Christmas. Any suggestions or recommendations are welcomed!

In the meantime, we have switched to this clip-to-the-table version that works much better for feeding, but is still not perfect.

And that old high chair will be going away real soon, but until then, we have found a new use for it: