Little Lucia: an orange high chair

my girls-frieda and lubird

I registered. I registered for a cute crib bumper, mobiles, bibs, bottles, burp cloths, sleep sacks, funny stuffed things, big toys, small toys, a few other baby 'necessities', and I registered for a high chair. The high chair was a tough one. Do you go with the traditional wooden high chair, the bright colored modern and washable one, or the kind that your kids can grow with...high chair to booster seat to a chair? Such big decisions to be made when you are expecting your first child. Well, after much contemplation, I went with the bright colored modern one. Easy to fold up when not in use, a neutral but fun bright orange color with white and silver base and priced pretty well.... I love her high chair. I love seeing the bright orange baby seat in the corner of our grey and taupe colored family room. I love how it screams, 'we have a baby!!!'. I love the memories of picking it out, receiving it from my two best friends, Kim and Laura, at my baby shower and I just love it. There is one hitch, it doesn't get used. Little Lu has sat in it a few times with modifications added... towels, little pillows, even the knitted peas... but it just doesn't quite work. Even when we have her situated in that cute high chair, her feet hang off the edge, she starts to slide, and as cute as she looks...its just not right.
We have adapted with other baby seats. A table top high chair, using the Bob stroller in a reclined position, putting books under her feet, using a 'hugg-a-baby' cushion. As a baby, many of those things worked well enough and some still do, but she is growing up and the time has come to adapt.
Today we had Little Lu fitted for a 'stander'. A stander to help her bare weight, to help her hips and spine grow and form as they should. The first piece of medical 'equipment' has been ordered for our little girl. A $2000 ticket, paid by insurance, with about a 4 month approval period...and it will be ours.
'Kid carts, standers, ankle, foot orthotics/AFO's' are next, and so on... It's not a big deal really, our little Lu just needs a bit more help, it's just different. I've taken the bright orange high chair in and out of the family room more times than I can count. I haven't gotten sad, she just wasn't quite ready for it. And when I could put her in it, no big deal that her feet didn't touch, no big deal that she was slouched a little... She was in a regular, what we registered and planned for, cute bright orange high chair! But I was wrong. It is a big deal that her feet don't touch, and that her spine is slouched. The cute orange high chair does not work for our bird. She is a special Lubird and we are not going to just settle for the norm in everything. Today, as I watched Lu get fitted for a stander, I smiled inside and out. She cried and didn't enjoy the new position, and that did not make me smile. But, I smiled because the stander would have been on her baby registry. We are going to get what she needs and gratefully we are able to get it. The twenty or so firm pads, the straps, buckles, supine, prone positions, foot pads, all offered on the 48 lb stander are what our Lubird needs. The time has come to adapt and today was the beginning of a new baby shower... With these gifts being a bit heavier, a bit bigger and bulkier, but with this, our bird will be on her way to fly her own special flight!
A flight that has some bumps and maybe even a few nose dives, but a flight that will securely hold her as she needs and show her all the beautiful sights yet to see. Hold on Little Lu...with our hands held together we are are going to see it all, and we're going to see it brighter than ANY orange colored high chair could have ever, ever, EVER offered!

Thank you Katie Shean Zapata for visiting us on Monday. You have been so incredibly thoughtful with special gifts and messages for our family since Little Lu was born. Katie and husband David had their first child, a baby girl, just 3 days before Lucia was born-little rosebud, Annarose! And Happy Birthday to uncle Adam, Katie Garces and Lu's special boyfriend, Happy 1st Birthday Giacomo!!! xoxoxo