Making your own high-chair

[DaraJaney]

When Mrs. Thompson decided to put her 14 year-old-son, Nigel, back in nappies her main problem was to find a high-chair big enough for him.  She could make pretty baby dresses for him herself but she was no good at woodwork.  She took a tape measure to her local nursery furniture supplier but none of the high-chairs were big enough.



She searched on-line and was interested in this Winnie-the-Pooh wooden high-chair: http://shopping.msn.co.uk/results/shp/?text=wooden+high+chair+winnie,scId=1



The product specification boasted that it could hold a bigger toddler and could be converted into a normal chair as well.  She figured that there might be something she could do with it.  She went to a supplier and bought it.



She opened the flat pack at home and studied the instructions.  She started to assemble the top part which was the baby seat.  It was clearly going to be too narrow for Nigel.  Then she noticed that the three wooden cross bars to support the lower part of the chair were longer.  She was able to screw these between the baby chair sides to make it wider.  That looked more promising.  She put the padded seat in and sat down on it herself.  It was wide enough and just about deep enough.



But having used bars from the lower part of the chair she could not now construct that section.  However, she had a set of square wooden dining room chairs.  She brought the baby chair over to them to see would it sit on top of one of them.  As luck would have it, it was the same width and the baby chair sat securely on the dining chair.



She sat up into the chair.  She fitted fine and it was high enough to leave her feet dangling a few inches off the floor.  But the baby seat was not very deep.  She took what was supposed to be the back panel from the lower part and placed it on the seat of the baby chair instead of the padded seat.  She had to loosen the sides first, press the panel in and tighten the sides again.



She sat up into the seat again.  Perfect!  The panel provided a much deeper seat, reaching out to the backs of her knees which meant that her feet dangled well off the floor.



The next problem was that the plastic tray could not be affixed to the wider chair.  She studied the original narrower bars that were supposed to be used for the baby chair.  One of these had screw holes at either end.  She was able to screw one end to a hole in the side of the baby chair and the other end to the tray.  This meant it was held on one side and could swivel in and out.  She sat in the chair and swivelled the tray in front of her.  The other side could easily be secured by a lock and chain.



She was very pleased with herself.  She had constructed a high-chair that could accommodate Nigel.  He, needless to say, was not so pleased.  He wriggled and struggled in the high-chair but couldn’t get out.  His feet kicked around vainly in mid-air.



His mother was able to prepare his bottle and vegetable mash in her own time knowing he was securely held in.  By the time, she came over with his bottle, he had accepted the fact that he couldn’t get out.  He winced but obediently started suc-king on his bottle.



Once she had spoon-fed him his dinner, she set about assembling her other purchase.  The Lindam play-pen would be big enough for Nigel http://www.smythstoys.com/safety/lindam-soft-and-secure-playpen-e08736pd.aspx?qwSessionID=f8aaf8f5-a075-4d92-8282-9b69e67a1fa5



He looked on morosely from his high-chair while she constructed it in the middle of the floor.  When it was ready she unlocked him from the high-chair and led him over to the play-pen.  He tried to resist but his fleece booties slid on the wooden floor and she pushed him in and closed the side with a click.



He could, of course, climb over the side easily enough but she tied a strap to the sash on his baby dress and the other end to the bottom corner of the pen.  With his hands in mittens he could not untie this.  He tried to climb over the side but with only one leg out, and his frilly nappy cover showing well, the strap reached its full length and prevented him going any further.  He eventually gave up and sat down in his pen.



He looked around at the rattles, blocks, dolls and other baby toys that she had thoughtfully left for him.  His mother took the TV remote.  She started a DVD of the Australian children’s programme “The Fairies”.  She turned the volume well up.  â€śPretty, pretty fairy ballet, let’s go dancey-dance….”  She left him to enjoy it.



And what’s more the high-chair was still big enough for him at 18 and older!



[concluded - the story may be fictional but the instructions above do really convert that chair into one big enough for an adult - provided that you have the regular chair to sit it on]