So, yesterday, like a naughty, impatient kid, I opened one of the girls' Christmas presents early. It's a cute little folding table and chairs I'd ordered from Leaps and Bounds. I was going to wait and set it up for Christmas morning -- maybe put some dolls in the chairs, or something; the kind of thing Santa used to do at my house when I was a kid. But I didn't.
The thing is, we've been having trouble getting Elsa and Clio to sit in their high chairs at the dining room table lately. They frequently want to sit in the "big girl" chairs, but those chairs are too low without a booster seat and too tippy with. Clio is also going through a phase of wanting to be on our laps while she eats, (sit-a mommy? sit-a mommy?) which is not a pattern we want to get into. Particularly because then Elsa gets jealous and wants to sit on a lap, too.
So, I thought that maybe being able to sit at their own little table would help. Also, they woke up early from their nap and it was too cold to go outside and I was bored, OK? Merry Christmas!
The first thing the girls did was push the chairs around for a while. Because they are currently obsessed with anything that can be pushed or wheeled around. (You should see our floors.) Then, I set them up to color with crayons. Within seconds, Elsa had scribbled on both the table and the seat of her chair and started yelling "Me mup! Me mup!" (Translation: Clean up! Clean up!) The girl loves "cleaning" things almost as much as she likes messing them up.
Later, I actually did give the girls their dinner at the table, in the middle of our kitchen, all the while spouting lots of pro-table propaganda, like "don't you love your new table?" and "what big girls you are, sitting at your own table!" etc. etc. It went reasonably well. But there are two main problems: 1.) The girls can get in and out of the chairs on their own, and did several times during the meal. 2.) The table is lightweight enough that they can -- and did -- push it back and forth at each other repeatedly, laughing laughing laughing until somebody, inevitably, pushed too hard and pissed the other one off.
So, it's still an experiment, this eating at their own table thing. Maybe it won't work out. But I feel very good about the purchase. It'll be great for arts and crafts type stuff, games, kiddie bridge parties, etc. It's nice to be able to set them up in the kitchen, where there is always other stuff to be done. And I love the fact that the table and chairs fold, so we can stash them away when we're not using them. They're also very nice looking and of good quality, all for what I think was a pretty reasonable price. (I'm not getting paid to plug this product, I swear!)
I guess I feel a little lame about jumping the Christmas gun. On the other hand, it's not like they really *get* the idea of Christmas yet -- or presents for that matter, right? It's funny -- I've really enjoyed picking out a few presents for the girls for Christmas, but it's also a little frustrating knowing they won't really recognize them as being special treats, on a special day. No gleeful cries of "thank you mommy!" and "it's just what I wanted!" (Not that furniture generally evokes this sort of response from children anyway....) Ah well. Next year, maybe?
Playing with stickers at their new pre-Christmas table, with Adriana, our regular sitter. (Who also does their hair up fancy-like.)
