Table for 3

BLWing at home is one thing. We have dogs to clean up tossed food and a proper high chair with a nice, big tray on which Chicken can squish and smear her food. It's basically just playtime, but with food instead of toys at this point. We love watching her work to get food to her mouth and giving her the opportunity to watch and mimic us.

Eating out is a whole different story...In some ways it's very easy. We don't have to pack jars of food or worry about keeping things cold etc. In theory, Chicken can just eat whatever we eat. In reality, I'm not ready for her to eat everything I eat, nor do I think everything I eat is healthy for an infant. So, we bring a few things like breadsticks, cucumber spears, etc and then prepare ourselves for her to demand to share what we're eating. It's amazing how strong she has become physically and how vocal she

has become about what she wants. Just weeks ago she barely acknowledged food and was perfectly happy with toys at the table. Now, she sees us eating and wants what we've got.

Depending on the place, it's sometimes easier for one of us to hold her rather than do the whole highchair thing. Although she can sit in a highchair, she's still little and isn't always sitting up as well as we'd like her to be if she's going to be chowing down. Also, it's a little easier to contain her discarded food if it ends up on the table rather than flung about from the highchair.

We don't eat out very often, but we can. We went on a mini-vacation recently, where eating out was pretty much the only option. Chicken managed a lunch on the road, two dinners out and two breakfasts at the hotel. Here she is helping herself to some of her dad's lunch. :)