Well, we are officially in the baby proofing season of our lives now. Jake's increasing mobility and monkey-like antics are forcing us to admit we need to make some changes to help him grow up without too many dents in his head. Right now the main concerns are the stairs, the plant in the living room, his crib and anything with a sharp, pointy corner.
1.) Stairs-I know all we need to do is get a gate for the top and bottom of the stairs. He has already mastered going up a few steps (with us right behind him) but has no depth perception about going down them.
2.) Plant-Do I have to move the plant out of the living room? It seems he loves the dirt in the pot. I too loved dirt as a child, but I was old enough to mix it with water and make a pie before I ate it. He just wants to eat dry dirt and that's just gross. I'm picturing some sort of elaborate laser light system we could set up that would make really loud noises if he breached their boundaries. Any other suggestions?
3.) Crib-Here, I have to confess that our child has already fallen out of his crib once. This happened about three weeks ago before we had even seen him pull himself up on any furniture. It was very scary, but he came out of the whole experience pretty much unscathed. Needless to say, Mike lowered the mattress to its lowest point after that. However, our little monkey is now standing up in the crib when he wakes up and picking up one leg to try to climb over. He's not able to actually do it yet, but I feel it coming. I did find a crib tent that we can put up to hold the little booger inside. Has anyone tried one of these? I'm wondering if they work. Any other suggestions? The crib tent isn't very fashionable and since I'm all about the fashion I would like other options.
4.) Sharp, pointy corners-Should we just make him wear some kind of big, foam helmet? 50% of his falls end up with his little head hitting the corner of a wall or door or furniture type object. The cries of pain! It's heartbreaking and he just doesn't seem to understand that when he falls he should avoid these objects of torture. I have seen rubber stuff you can put on corners and am curious about if it works or not.
Should I just lighten up and trust that he will make it through this stage alive? I mean, we all made it through childhood before all of these babyproofing things were invented. I even made it through riding in a car WITHOUT a car seat! In fact, sometimes I rode in the floor board in the backseat. I thought it was fun. Let me know your thoughts!
I have a few friends who have used the crib tents and they worked. I think you are just going to have to sacrifice fashion for a kid without a broken limb. We moved our coffee table to the far side of the living room so they wouldn't fall on it. Actually we only did that with Baby #1, who cares about Baby #2. Kidding. Sort of. Don't forget the outlet covers and any cords you have dangling like from blinds or lamps. You just have to rearrange things for a few months. Our pediatrician told us to crawl around on our hands and knees to see things from the baby's perspective so we could see any hidden (to us) dangers. That was smart. Do you have a fireplace hearth--I can't remember. That was my biggest worry so we just piled comforters on top of it. It was so not attractive but hey, it saved some trips to the emergency room I am sure. Oh and the cabinets were Jack's best friend so unless you want to hear them slamming all day and to avoid having a child with Fantastik cleaning spray (my proud mommy moment) all over himself get those cabinet thingies that prevent them from opening up.
ReplyDeleteWe moved the plant out of the living room and actually don't have a coffee table. Definitely do something about the outlets and any cords!!! We never gated our stairs and just really tried to teach boundaries while they were playing!
ReplyDeleteSo good to hear from you and see your family!!! When was Jake born? Gabe was born in Dec. '06 as well. looking forward to checking back in on your site!
ReplyDeletehey sarah, jake was born on the 14th of dec. isn't it funny that you, suzanne and i all had babies so close together? imagine if we were all still at cornerstone!
ReplyDelete