The small table setup is great because he just walks over and seats himself, sometimes grabbing his own fork/plate on the way there (I’ve put his plastic plates and some forks in a low drawer for him).  Although this works great for weekday breakfasts, it felt awkward with him down there all by his lonesome for our weeknight dinners and weekend meals. 

Eating together at at the same table at least once a day is extremely important to me so I started looking at booster seats.  I already had a portable booster/high chair combo and it is useful as a high chair replacement when travelling.  I didn’t like how they were always somewhat wobbly, and we still had to give him a lift into the chair.  I was reviewing options online and I suddenly remembered a friend who had a super expensive chair that she raved about.

It’s made by Stokke and the chair is called the Tripp Trapp, or formerly the Kinderchair.  It bills itself as the only chair you’ll ever need to buy from birth to teens (!).  I was intrigued by this concept and spent the next 24 hours researching this chair, particularly what customers had to say about it.  I found out that although expensive, people loved them so much that they bought a second one when the next baby arrived.

What appealed to me was the fact that our little guy could sit at the dinner table for meals, crafts, whatever.  He would be able to participate in whatever we were doing or he could do his own thing right beside us at the table. 

The other cool thing is that the chair is designed so that toddlers can climb on and off the chair by themselves.  When I read that I thought, “OK, this is what’s going to convince me to plop down $200 for the chair - I won’t have to hear “UP! UP! again.  The footrest that they use to climb on/off the chair also makes it ergonomic by supporting their feet so that they have something to rest on.

Being the eBay/Craigslist fiend that I am, it felt strange when I drove over to The Right Start to buy this chair.  Since this chair was going to be at our dining table I wanted the finish to be close to cherry/mahogany. 

There were none this color on Craigslist at the time and the eBay chairs were very close to retail.  Otherwise I could have purchased either an orange one with pad on CL for $140, or a really old used birch colored one for $120.   I figured by the time I sell it for $140 or so, I would have used it for $60 or so for about three or four years.  That’s only about $15 per year amortized over four years.

After paying for it at the store I drove home and assembled it in less than an hour.  I was so excited to test it out.  GG loved it right away because he could climb in and out of it, and I was thrilled at having him at the table right between me and my husband.  

Having used the chair for several weeks now, we ended up removing the seatbelt that came with it.  It was getting in the way and it’s very difficult to remove for cleaning.  It took my husband and I 10 minutes to figure out how to remove the spring/clip to take the seatbelt device off.  For this reason alone I would not use it as a high chair even though it says you can on the Stokke website. 

The only annoying thing about this chair is the extremely large safety warning sticker with the Stokke logo that came plastered on the back of the top rail of this chair.  Pooh pooh to Stokke for making the adhesive unbelievably tacky and difficult to remove. 

I am well aware of the dangers of letting my kid stand on the chair, not strapping him in, etc so I felt it was my duty in the name of good taste to remove the nasty looking sticker.  It looked like someone had put an unremovable bumper sticker on my brand new purchase.  I painstakingly sat down for 40 minutes and scraped the sticker and adhesive off the part before assembly.  I also had some 100% ethanol in the house and used it to literally scrub the sticker residue off the wood.  It did not damage the finish of the wood on my chair. 

I warn you that if you try peeling a small corner off that sticker you’ll know what I mean and what you’re about to get yourself into.  Be prepared.  Put some music on, pour yourself a glass of wine after the kids are in bed and take the time to remove the sticker.  You’d think for a company so bent on architecturally sensitive design that they’d be aware that a huge white sticker is an eyesore on at $200 high chair. 

I am going to resell my Chicco high chair now that GG’s done with it (hooray!).  I highly recommend the Stokke Tripp Trapp for toddlers (18-24 months plus).  I must say although it was $199.00 plus tax I seriously love this chair.  In my mind I justified the purchase by telling myself that with the money I save by buying GG’s clothes second hand, packing his lunches, etc it was more than worth it. You’ll use this chair for years to come and even if you don’t you can probably recoup at least $120 or so of the cost if you resell it on Craigslist.  If you’re putting a baby registry together think ahead and ask people to chip in for this item.  Or better yet, look for one on Craigslist.