the family table

Though Daniel has a couple of plastic plates and baby forks and spoons given to him as gifts (and he does use plastic sippy cups), I have never bought plastic dinnerware for him, and I don't plan to add to the collection he already has. At breakfast, he usually eats his yogurt and cereal out of a small, white ramekin. Other times, if the plastics are dirty, we use our regular white bowls and plates and sometimes just hand him one of our spoons or smaller appetizer forks. The everyday glasses we received as a wedding gift (Picardie tumblers) came with a tiny juice glass (in addition to a regular-sized juice glass) that's nearly the size of a shot glass — too small for Steve or me to use, but perfect for Daniel's little hands.



The main reasons I haven't bought much plastic are that I worry about harmful chemicals leaching out, and we don't have a ton of room in our kitchen to store extra dinnerware. And, truth be told, I just think our old, white, everyday plates are prettier than plastic. (Though Daniel does enjoy looking at the baby lion on the plate his grandma gave him for Christmas!) In writing earlier about trying to find a balance in creating a child-friendly home, this is one area where I haven't felt very eager to load up on children's products. I like to think Daniel will learn to be careful with breakable things this way. So far, we've lost no glasses — they're pretty unbreakable — and just one plate. And Daniel's ability to drink from a grown-up glass is improving every day. He does like to dip his food in his milk before putting it in his mouth, but I chalk that up to exploration, and I'm sure he'll outgrow that phase soon enough.

His new booster seat arrived via Amazon the other day, and he was so proud of himself when I let him have his snack at the table. He's still a messy eater, so I think we'll have him in the high chair a bit longer, but I look forward to the day when he can sit with his mom and dad for dinner.