Eating at the big(ish) table

Julia's eating habits have been frustrating lately because she throws everything on the floor. Not just the food that she doesn't want -- it's everything, including drinks. As an experiment, I put her at the little table with Caroline to see if freeing her from the highchair and letting her sit at the table like a big girl would improve her table manners. So here's the two Miss Messes at their first breakfast together:


(Notice all the stickers and markings on the table and chairs? We got this little set for Caroline for Christmas when she was 1 1/2 years old. She has obviously given it lots of "love" since then.)

Both girls liked it -- here they are waving at each other:


And here is Juju's silly face:


So, that was fun, but as of now she's back in the highchair because the experiment didn't work -- she still threw food on the floor, and added plate tossing as well. Since I don't have a plate that suctions to the table, I'm now trying the "Love and Logic" method of saying empathetically when she starts launching the food off her tray, "Uh-oh. Looks like dinner is over since you have decided to throw food. We'll see you again when it's time for snack." Then I clean her off and send her on her way. That has worked better than the big girls' table -- I guess she wasn't quite ready for that. (Or was it that I wasn't quite ready to take on her plate tossing? Yeah, probably it's more the latter.)