The Best High Chair Ever

Here’s a Sunday post with a Thursday spirit! #TBT

This post is about the very best high chair… EVER! It’s super safe. It’s ridiculously versatile. And, it is truly durable. Here are some snapshots of what it looks like:

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First, you’ll notice that the tray comes off and the tray itself even has a liner. This is super nice for cleaning. And, it is ridiculously multi-purpose. You can use this for eating, crafts, playtime, etc. It’s super usesful.

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This is the lowest it can go while still seating a baby… just in case you have a mover, shaker, and otherwise escape artists. You can have it THIS low without worry of the kid shaking the chair to topple over.

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It also folds into a razor thin profile. The chair back has three reclining settings. And, you’ve seen the height difference from totally lowered to the highest position. It’s really nice. The fabrics all come off so you can wash them in the machine when they get dirty. There are several slots to change the height of the shoulder straps as your baby turns into kiddo mode. It slides around on the carpet and tile floors very easily. And, has a very effective brake system. I can’t speak highly enough of this product. We did a lot of research before we bought it and we have been happy ever since.

Are you shopping for a high chair?

Do it! This, is the one you want. This is the one you NEED!

Car-gy!

This TBT post is more of a dad’s ramble. Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy! 🙂


So, “car-gy” is the way Nathan used to say the word “car” or “cars.” As I’ve mentioned before, Nate’s speech was of concern in the past. He’s coming great now… as you can see 🙂

Along with Cars, Nate also loves Toy story. And, gets sad & mad along with the characters. It’s actually quite interesting and rather sweet to see such a young kiddo empathize — he’s always been a very in touch child.

We also noticed that Nathan prefers the computer animated pieces more so than the hand drawn productions. I’m not sure exactly why this is, I only know that Wreck-It Ralph holds his attention better than Lion King does.

Which randomly reminds me about how we spent all this time finding a DVR opportunity to get Cars on without commercials. However, once we got it, Nathan started to lose interest. Before, the version we had was filled with commercials. These commercials served as interruption points where he would have to grab us to fast forward the show.

Once the video went without interruptions, he preferred it a lot less. We guessed that those interruptions served as regular and predictable chances for him to check on us.

Let’s see… what else? Well… he’s been playing a lot more with his ABC toys and chatter boxing to us. He’s even pointing at the label on his car seat saying “W” and “R!” It’s pretty cool stuff.

All this ramble to say that many fatherly worries come and go. Most of them will pass as the baby turns kiddo and kiddo turns *shudders* teen. The body has a fairly good sense of how to work itself out. I guess it’s just something to think about, remember, and be thankful for.

Blue Hat, Green Hat

One of the funniest… wait, funniest? Is that a word? Yes! Spell check says “Okay!” So…! One of the funniest aspects of being a Work At Home Dad is that I get to take random breaks (given my schedule allows for it) to play with my boy. Today’s Throwback Thursday post is about a little book Nate used to ADORE… Blue Hat, Green Hat.

It’s actually a really silly little book. But, what is so funny is that there is this little turkey who doesn’t know how to wear any article of clothing. So, the book goes “Blue Hat, Green Hat, Red Hat, OOPS!”

During the “Oops” line, the Turkey is wearing something backwards, on its beak, or something else funny and weird.

The way I read it to my boy is I say “Ooops” super loud, high pitched, and I jolt my whole body as he is sitting in my lap. Nathan thinks that sudden motion during reading is absolutely hilarious and will just laugh it all up. Typically, until I am sorely bored with the book.

Still… it’s worth it 😉

Well…. Nathan was NOT cooperative with me recording a reading with him. However, his FAVORITE… moms 😉 was able to get a nice clip going.

So… Blue Hat, Green Hat.

Still Not Talking?!

Written Fall 2015

So, as Nathan turned 2 years of age, we had our well child checkup and the pediatrician was big on him talking. Much of this was preparation for preschool… which isn’t especially relevant since we’re planning on homeschooling. In any case, it was a big talk about how Nate needed to be talking and talking now!

She referred us to a developmental pediatric rehab/PT/OT/SLP program for a specialized screening as well as for warning signs of developmental delay.

I gotta be honest. I was little insulted. I’m a Physical Therapist. I know these things well enough. Who do physicians send kiddos to when their development is in question? Among good company, Physical Therapists! And yes, I’m biased because he’s my kid. But, it just struck me wrong. He’s my boy! I’m his dad. Objective or not, reasonable or not, responsible or not… it just wasn’t something I wanted to hear. It may not be rational. But, hey… emotions rarely are.

After talking on the phone for a lengthy conversation with the specialist, we decided not to go for the screening. Nate doesn’t do well with strangers nor in any medical office. He’s basically in panic mode the whole time he’s at the doctor’s office and is impossible to pin down. Imagine taking a kid like that to get “screened” — you can imagine how many false positives would come up.

So, we kept going, simply because the range of “normal” for children is so very wide. Later, I asked a retired Speech Language Pathologist about Nathan. She basically said that since I was catching him talking with himself and that when we asked him to reciprocate, he would refuse; speaking at the time for him, was basically a game. It wasn’t about communication. Nate just wanted to see how much he could say and not say, until it got boring. Or, until it became a point where social pressure of performing speech wasn’t involved that he would open up. He’s testing the boundaries of speech, social situations, and how it relates to communication.

A few months later, we noticed he would interact with TV shows, educational toys, etc and start spouting off all these words and interacting properly. Sure enough, recently, he started to open up a lot more. Yes… this might be slow according to all the books, blogs, and online resources. At the same time, who came up with such “norms?” Where they the same norms 100 years ago? 200? 1000? Probably not.

When you compare one kiddo to another, you realize that normal is such a wide range. Our son is ridiculously talented when it comes to physical development. His core control and athleticism is really quite astonishing, even when compared to kids a year older. Yet, he doesn’t do so well with “the talking.” Then, there are other kids we know who talk like they are a year older than they are. However, they are not walking so well and have trouble with the same motor control which Nate could do with his eyes closed.

What does this mean?

In my humble opinion (IMHO)… it’s ALL NORMAL.

Certainly, there were times and still are times when I’m a little worried about Nathan’s speech development. At the same time, I think part of this is because I am a healthcare professional… knowing too much — well, it’s a bad thing in this case. Nevertheless, it does appear that just in the last week or two, Nathan has turned a corner. He’s saying all sorts of words I’ve never heard him say before. He’s willing to open up and being far more verbal. Sure, he might be a few months behind the track as prescribed by whatever textbook out there. But, as far as I see it, “normal” is normal so long as the kid is healthy and functional.

So far, so normal.