Lalo’s new high chair has six other jobs

There is a morning, somewhere after the second birthday, when the high chair stops being furniture and starts being an argument. They want to sit at the table like everyone else, and the thing with the tray is in the way. Lalo’s answer is The Chair II, a ground-up redesign of the high chair that made the brand, at $249.99 in six colours.

What the seven modes actually are

Three of them are the high chair, counted once per backrest position. After that it becomes a booster that straps onto one of your own dining chairs, then a child chair, then a play chair, then a play stool with the back taken off. The weight ratings tell you more than the names do: 30 pounds as a high chair, 50 pounds as a booster, and 250 pounds as a play chair. That last number is not for your toddler. It is so the stool holds when you sit down on it to read the same book again.

The parts you’ll notice at dinner

The tray comes off one-handed and goes on the top rack of the dishwasher, which is the single feature that decides whether a high chair gets cleaned properly or wiped at. The frame is 14 pounds and 20 by 24 by 33.6 inches, in sustainably sourced beechwood with BPA-free plastic and food-grade silicone straps, finished in water-based paint. It starts as soon as a baby can sit up unaided, which Lalo puts at roughly four to six months, and the brand publishes a 90/90/90 posture diagram: hips, knees and ankles all square, with the footrest doing the work most high chairs leave to a dangling leg.

The prices, once

$249.99 in Coconut, Sage, Biscotti, Rose, Slate and Licorice. The Rocker, the newborn attachment that clips on in front, is $149.99 on its own — three recline positions, a machine-washable organic cotton liner, a sensory toy bar — or $375 bundled with the chair against $399.98 bought separately. The wipeable cushion is $39.99. One thing to know before you click: at the time of writing, meetlalo.com shows several colours sold out with an estimated ship date of September 30, and sends you to Target instead.

The one we’d buy

If you already own the original Chair and your kid is under two, sit this one out. The booster mode is genuinely new and the rest is a better version of what is already in your kitchen, which is not $249.99 of difference. If you are buying the first one, this is the one to buy, and it is the rare case where seven modes is not marketing arithmetic — four of them are chairs a three-to-six-year-old will actually use. Get Licorice. It is the only colour that does not show what happened at dinner. Leave the cushion for later; you will know within a month whether you want something else to wash.

Lalo’s in the club: free shipping on orders over $100 when you go through Cubbie Club. See the Lalo offer →