End of an Era

This high chair has sat unused in a corner of our dining room (that is, the half of the kitchen that we refer to as "the dining room") for the last two months. Our almost-two-year-old refuses to sit in it.

With no younger sibling to whom to pass it along, the "Era of the High Chair" ends for this family.

With the end of that era, so also ends the time of the kid-staying-put-in-one-place-for-the-duration-of-an-entire-meal. These days, she'll start in a small chair at a low height kids' table. From there, she'll meander to a step-stool we have set up at the grownups' table. She'll tire of that spot and eventually climb up a bar stool (for her, this entails several 5.9 climbing moves) before ultimately landing in someone's lap for the remainder. During this process, plenty of food gets smeared, thrown, and generally discarded throughout the eating area.

So ends the time of strapping the kid to the high chair. The chair has seen lots of action -- two older cousins used it before passing it along for use by both of our kids -- but it has lots of life left. I wish it all the best; it certainly served us well.