Leaving Babyland

One night as I was clicking the tray into Little Man's highchair he squirmed and told me that it was getting "too tight" in there. He's outgrown the highchair. I cannot say I am sad about this. I hate highchairs. They are hard to clean, (even though mine can go through a dishwasher) and they are wearing on my precious dining chairs. (I am very attached to my dining set, seeing kids scratch it up? Well it scratches my heart)

So he's ready to transition out of the highchair. But he is not stable enough to perch on a stool at the counter island, like his sisters do. We need an inbetween eating solution. I don't want to have the twins at the counter and then put Little Man somewhere else, I don't like treating any of the kids differently. It makes me excited to see them grow up and the differences between the two age groups slowly shrink. I've been perusing the offerings to find the best arrangement for all three kids.

Some things I consider:

- Not wood. I use kitchen wipes heavily, and they are hard on wood. (Never mind the fact that 2/3 options I'm looking at are wood. You just never mind that!)

- Large enough to give each kid ample space. Not only is this important to have enough room for three plates & cups, but the girls already distract each other and oftentimes I end up separating them in different rooms to get them to focus and eat their food. This is my main concern with putting all three together- nobody is going to eat. And they'll play hairdresser with their spaghetti. (already precedence set for this- gah)

- Not too large to take up all the room in our small breakfast-nook-type area. I love the huge open space between the kitchen and living room that we have empty (except for a highchair) right now. It feels so airy!

- The six year olds are small, but are they outgrowing kid-oriented seating/tables? I hope not.

Some of the options are!

The Mammut series at IKEA. Not having a store here, I'd have to ship it out. But it is cheap! And
plastic!

This rectangle set has a lot of options, benches, chairs, etc. But the price is a whopper. And it's wood/veneer which I'm nervous about with cleanup and durability.

This gorgeous Etsy find has me ALMOST sold. It's wood, sure. BUT IT'S SO PRETTY! I am such a sucker for good design; it's my cryptonite.

What would you do? Seems the pretty vs. functionality/fiscal responsibility war rages on!

In more non-baby news, we're also going to get Little Man out of the crib-turned-toddler bed. I can't even talk about the options here. I firmly want this. And it is wildly expensive. So. A run to the local furniture store will probably be what happens on that front.

I am just so glad to be making small steps to being fully out of baby land. I no longer own baby bottles, binkies, burp cloths, and all that jazz. It is an awesome feeling to be relatively certain on a full night's sleep each and every night. I don't have to carry a baby around everywhere- even though Little Man sure does prefer that method of transportation. (carrying him sure is quicker sometimes) Those last vestiges of baby gear are slowly finding their way out of my house. My purse is a little lighter these days. I may have goldfish crumbs on my shoulder, but it isn't the stained spit up that once graced most my clothing.

The last hold-out is probably the diapers. (shake fist cursing the diapers)

And then we will be a kid-house. (I am decidedly happy about this) Babyville was fun. I've learned that a borrowed baby is the best kind of baby. As they grow, I am falling more in love with my kids. They talk, have their own ideas, we interact! It's fantastic.