Over the past few weeks, Andrea has expressed with great clarity that she considers herself much too grown up to be expected to sit in the high chair any more. After all, that's baby stuff and she has reached the mature age of 21 months. Honestly, I can't say that I blame her. When in the high chair, she is stuck in the corner and although it is a corner surrounded by windows, she would rather be part of the family fun and conversation that is happening at the "grown up" table. Plus, sitting sandwiched between her big sisters makes it much easier to steal the good stuff off of their plates when they aren't looking. I can certainly see the appeal....
So, I got out the sandblaster to clean all the dried food out of the nooks and crannies of the high chair, packed it in the back of the van and hauled it down to my mother-in-law's house for use when the grandbabies come to visit. I figure that if I were high chair that had reached retirement age, it doesn't get much better than a life of hanging out at grandma's house and coming out of the storage room once in a while for birthday parties and holiday feasts.
Now for the moping part...
Although I am happy that my baby is growing and strong, I'm still a little melancholy about passing up another baby raising milestone. I realize it's a bit odd to start feeling the pangs of an empty nest when she hasn't even celebrated her 2nd birthday, but I still intend to give myself a healthy period of mourning at the passing on of my beloved oak high chair. As part of my grief therapy, my old friend and I had a quiet little farewell portrait session. Parting is such sweet sorrow.
Strobist info: Pentax AF360FGZ backlight with 1/4 CTO gel. (Flash head is directly behind the "Eddie Bauer" logo and a broqued pillow is leaning against the gorilla tripod to hide it.) Natural light through venetian blinds from the left. Warm gold reflector panel bouncing natural light from the right.
