Places at the Table

Our kitchen table grew today.

Now that Shav has reached the stage of wanting to be with us while we're eating dinner, it was time to put him in a highchair and "graduate" Tobin up to sitting at the table. Today was the big day for that, and to be honest I wasn't sure how it would go. I envisioned constant reminders of "Tobin, don't pull the tablecloth" and lots of food strewn about and maybe an overturned plate (since up until now, we have just given him his food on his highchair tray and haven't used a plate at all for him). However, he did remarkably well, and it was delightful to see him at the table looking like such a big boy!

I had to put another leaf in the table to make it big enough; that's a good feeling for me since it's a concrete symbol of our family's expansion. It does not, however, help my tablecloth situation since we just outgrew most of the ones that previously fit. For the boys' new places: Tobin took David's spot and is using David's booster seat. David got moved to the other side of the table and gets to sit in the very special wooden ladder-back chair that adjusts easily to different heights; it belongs to my parents, but they're letting us borrow it for this stage of life. Josiah got moved down to the other end of the table, and Shav is in a new-to-us highchair that we got for $20 through Craigslist. Although we had a highchair for Tobin, it was not at all suitable for a young baby because it didn't recline. We bought it at Walmart when we returned from Israel. David was a baby, getting ready to start solid foods, and we needed something; but we should have invested a little more money into it rather than getting the cheapest choice at Walmart. I was never satisfied with it. Through both David's and Tobin's infancies, it was the bane of my existence since the boys tended to flop over in it, and even propping them up with rolled towels didn't give them enough support. Before long, they would be keeled over or sliding down or otherwise positioned poorly and would need rescuing. I don't know why we didn't give ourselves permission to get a different highchair sooner; but with Shav, I was determined to have a better one! Thanks to Craigslist, we got one--and didn't even have to pay an arm and a leg for it.

Here is a picture I took at lunch today, Tobin's first meal at the table...

So much for today's game of musical chairs...on to 30 Days Thankful!
Day 2 - Since I was thinking about places at the table today, I was reminded of where I used to sit when I was a girl. My normal spot was to the right of my mother who sat at the end of the table closest to the stove (actually, my spot was exactly where Tobin is sitting in the above picture). However, when we had company and the table was stretched out and filled to capacity, we would bring the piano bench over to the table and place it at my mother's end. Then she and I would both sit on that and squeeze both our place settings onto the end of the table. I considered it a seat of honor to be at the end with her, and I really loved it. I pretty much loved anything that kept me close to my mother. :)

I'm thankful for the close relationship I had with my mother, celebratory meals around a stretched-out table, and this happy memory.