Benjamin has sat at the table with us (in highchair) nearly the whole time he could sit in a highchair - while he had to be fed by us we sometimes did this before we ate (or if daddy was going to be late) and then while we were eating he'd chew on some finger food or the spoon. We are generally early eaters so this has always suited us.

We bought him a little table and chairs for doing stuff at which ended up beside our table and for a fair while (since before 2) he's sat at that to eat his meal, ditched the highchair, while we eat ours at the bigger table directly beside him. He now wants to sit at our table and generally can although a booster would probably help him out a bit more and prevent a little less mess. Since he started feeing himself he's not the tidiest eater the plastic table and chairs were easy to clean especially with things like weetbix and pasta sauce.