Very few products make me wish I had them ten years ago, when my oldest was just a baby. For the most part, I've made "it" work. I was a young mom, always on the go, with one child. Then with a newborn and a super active toddler. That super active toddler wouldn't stay in one place, if you paid him. Heck, there were days I didn't think super glue could keep that kid in one spot.
Going out to eat anywhere that high chairs weren't readily available was impossible. I steered far away from the mall, as well as popular luncheonettes that my girlfriends used to love to go to. Face it, nobody likes to eat anything when a toddler is trying to climb on the table, hide under the table cloth, or roll around under waiter's feet.. I was no exception.
As a mom of three kids, lunch took on a new meaning. It was a place to slow down and recenter a bit, instead of a rude interruption in the middle of a helter-skelter day. It became a time of the day where all three of the kids could sit, mostly quiet, and I didn't have to worry who was where, doing what. I love lunch time, but I was still faced with similar problems finding high chairs readily available. There's a lot more restaurants and eateries that have high chairs, but my problem now was finding that a lot of those places had too many kids and not enough high chairs. What's a mom to do? You have two choices- pray to God that your child doesn't kamikaze off of the booster seat in a booth, or keep your kiddo in their stroller, and carve pieces of dried, stuck on pasta off of their pants, and the entire inside of the stroller fabric when you get home. If you opt for the second, you don't have anywhere to go between lunch and home.. if you go for the first, you're much braver than most people give you credit for!
So, I get this product announcement for this item called a
Totseat, and I almost scroll over it, but something makes me stop. I read the title, "Durable Fabric Seat Safely Transforms Adult Chairs into the Perfect Seat
for Babies and Toddlers", and snort, because- in my opinion- there is NOTHING that could have held my son into an adult seat as a baby. Being that I have a 16 month old, I figure what the heck, I'll give it a whirl.
My package came a few days later, and it arrived in a small, zippered plastic pouch. When you take it out, it has a fabric pouch that is perfect for sticking in your handbag or baby bag. Now that I've been using it regularly, I figured out that if I attach a plastic link, (you know
these links that you attach toys to, so when your kid flings it off of the stroller, it doesn't fall?), I can attach it to my stroller or baby bag easily, and don't have to dig for it!
Anyway! So, I tried the house chairs first. It worked like a charm. My little boy sat like he was a big man, at the table, and everything! I barely had to adjust it, and instantly, I was in love. So then I asked my friend Marissa to lunch. We decided to go to the dreaded mall. {Have I mentioned how much I hate the mall?} To the food court we went, on a mission to make it work.
We realized after we took the first picture, that we needed to adjust the position of the fabric, but as soon as we buttoned it, and adjusted the seat cummerbund, he looked much more comfortable. He even enjoyed his water! Who would have thought that at 15 months old, he would be able to sit in a metal mall chair, that was armless and had a big gap in the back, like a big kid, without falling off, or out!
For the first time since I had kids, I was able to sit in the mall, eat my lunch, drink my shake, and not have to scoop a child off of the floor ten trillion times, or worry about the condition of my stroller. I physically had moms and grandmothers stopping me, asking me what this was, and where they could get one, commenting on how *AMAZING* this invention is!
I shook my head and nodded, directing them to the Svan website. As I packed up my son, and strolled away, she showed me just how much he loves the Totseat, too!
To purchase Totseat for yourself, or for every mom of a rowdy toddler on your holiday shopping list, visit the Svan website
HERE.
The Totseat is available in 6 different colors/patterns and is $35. Of all of the crazy baby gadgets on the market, this is one of only a handful that I've ever given the I-cannot-live-without-it, and wish-I-had-it-for-the-other-two-kids stamp of approval.
To stay up to date on all of the fun and funky Svan items, be sure to follow them on
Twitter, "Like" their
Facebook page, and check out their
Pinterest page, too!
Special thanks to Svan and the PR company representing Svan for allowing us to review this awesome product, and share our opinions with our readers. No monetary compensation was received for this review. Our opinions are our own, your experience may differ. Do not leave any child unattended while strapped into the Totseat. Always supervise during use.
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