Baby Containment Technology

Yesterday, at Joyce's request, I ventured to "Buy Buy Baby" (what a crass name for a store!) and returned with a Superyard XT, or, more colloquially, the baby fence. My colleague Mike likened it to a sheep pen, and he made fun of all the pictures of happy three-year-olds playing inside their pen. As if!

Juliet doesn't seem to realize yet that it's actually a baby cage. She seems to enjoy the technical challenge of using it to climb.


Uncle Bill and Aunt Evelyn very kindly gave us the high chair that they had used for my cousins Bob and Leslie when they were growing up. Which makes this a vintage baby chair, in case you can't tell from the metal frame and vinyl seats (you can't get this stuff anymore!). Auntie Evelyn warned us, however, to make sure to install a strap to prevent submarining. She also told us that my cousin Bob had climbed out of the chair, lost his balance, and fallen head-first into a nearby garbage can, apparently to much hilarity. After these stories, we've begun affectionately referring to the high chair as "The Death Trap".


Luckily for us, our friend David was willing to give us a few pieces of general-purpose webbing, which we have configured (a) to prevent submarining and secure the tray and (b) as a seat belt. Juliet seems to enjoy eating food off the tray, and flung broccoli all over the kitchen, the tray, and herself. She even got broccoli up the sleeves of her clothes; we're still finding little broccoli bits in improbable places in the apartment.