So Manny is going to be crawling here any day. He has finally realized that it just might be faster and easier than rolling. I've realized in the last couple of days that our house is totally not baby friendly. We have 3 bookselves in our living room full of books and DVDs. Also, our living room has a really wide opening (9 feet long opening) into the kitchen, which I would like to keep him out of. How can I block the kitchen off? Am totally at a loss here! What are the keys to babyproofing a home? I mean, other than the obvious electric socket plugs? BAH!!! I should have been thinking about this earlier!!!
Don't worry, as manny gets older, you're going to find more and more things that you never thought of baby proofing. We never blocked any rooms off (with the exception of closing the bathroom door, since she loves to make such a mess in there and now throws things in the potty and says, "b-bye"), we just would make them safer as she got older and we saw what she was getting into that worried us. In the kitchen, we put locks on all the cupboards. You can buy big packs of them and they just screw into the top parts of the doors and lock after trying to get them open a certain distance. We also bought one of those garbage things that screw to the inside of the cupboard under the sink, after I caught Leane eating Cody's left over spaghetti out of our trash one night. As for our book shelves, we packed away a lot of the things that we didnt' watch or read much, and put the rest of our favourites on the top shelves. We also screwed the bookselves to the wall, since Cody was afraid of them falling on her. When he was a baby, he was crawling up a dresser that had a fish tank on top, and midway up it fell and smashed on his face. He still to this day has a massive scar running right down the center of his face, and hes never wanted that to happen to any of his kids. So basically anything that can tip, we screwed to the wall. There were still a couple things I left out that I have taught Leane not to touch (even though she still tries to just to see what I'm gunna do), but for the most part, we made everything safer. However, there were some things that I wanted to leave open for her so that she didnt' feel like she was closed off from the whole house....like the shelf that hold our pots and pans and the drawer under the stove that pulls out that has the rest of the pots and pans...I let her play in there all the time. Its harmless, and she loves it.
Don't sweat it too much IcedTea... Baby proofing isn't really that big of a deal(oh my gosh! *smile*). Really, as long as you are able to keep an eye on him and supervise, he'll pretty much stay out of trouble. I raised my son in my parents DIASTER OF A HAZARD home, and never had a problem. Of course, they will crawl up to that bookshelf or manage to pry open a cabinet, but that is an opportunity to start teaching them what not to mess with. Say "no no" and move them away. It's amazing how fast Leo picked it up... He just didn't mess with stuff after awhile and when he did I was around to tell him no. I think it's the better way to go... I didn't have to clamber over or around baby gates for months(years in some cases) or pick out socket plugs or any of that business. And Leo got a head start on learning to behave... Toddler proofing is the REAL biggy. Even though Leo had the concept down of what NOT to do, he did it anyway to test his limits. He learned some lessons quick(some things just weren't worth the trouble he found out very fast!) but there are some things that a two and a half year old boy just can't resist, and that's when you've gotta start evaluating what needs to be put up out of reach. Save yourself(and your wallet) some hassle and only move what's terribly dangerous(that rack of samurai swords, the block of butcher knives, and the chainsaw you keep idleing on standby*hehe*), secure what's wobbly and teach your son what's good and bad... It makes it so much easier down the road to start early. Best of luck!
We found with Moire that the easiest way to babyproof was to just follow her as she got into things and then put them in new areas. Trust me, Bri babyproofed the apartment and then as soon as she was crawling, we realised that it's not possible until you can see what your baby wants to get into. As far as the kitchen, we blocked it off, but in the end, realised that because it was forbidden, she'd fight to go in there all the more. So now, we sweep religiously and have one low drawer and one cabinet that is baby friendly. Everything else is locked. And that is what seems to be working here, with our uber-obnoxious bundle of evergy
Yep, don't worry too much. The moment you get a room perfectly "babyproofed," your lil one is gonna find a way to prove to you that he can get around those doohickeys to get into whatever he wants anyway. I have an 8' opening into my kitchen & wanted to keep my daughter out too. So we saved up & bought one of those super-sized gates to barricade her out. And that little stinker crawled THROUGH the pass-through cupboard to grab onto my leg while I was rinsing spaghetti noodles one day & scared the be-jeepers out of me! Get things that could be hazardous covered or up & out of the way like the knives in the kitchen, and things like Gramma's crystal vase that you'd die if it were broken. Make sure stairways are blocked off well, and you might want to consider an oven lock if you bake a lot. And get used to using the back-burners on your stove for awhile One more thing - I found that my just-crawling son could rip those safety plugs right out of our sockets. I don't know how "normal" that is, but just in case you might want to consider spending $1 per exposed outlet & buying the safety-plates that you have to push a plug in halfway & turn hard to access the socket. Neither one of my kids ever got those opened. Seriously though, they're little people. And the more barriers you put in front of them, the harder they're going to work to find out what's being hidden from them. So make sure the bookshelves are anchored to the wall, but let him check the books out. Keep some things out that COULD break... and teach him how to be careful around them. In the long run, I think it helps a lot - both your nerves, and his confidence level. love, mom
The only reason I want to block off the kitchen is because I have my "studio" on the kitchen table... acrylic paints, sewing machines, glue, beads and other things the like don't mix with little fingers. I guess I am just going to have to give up my crafty self for the next 3 - 10 years.... lol... sob...
Yeah, all of my crafting supplies were a hassle too. They live in my bedroom, so I'm lucky enough now to be able to just shut the door on them. Do you have a cabinet or shelf that you could free up, to house all of your goodies when you're not using them, so they wouldn't be quite as easily accessible? When my kiddies were younger, I tucked all of mine into the cabinet above the refrigerator in Sterilite drawers and that worked alright... it wasn't perfect, but it was definitely better than not crafting for several years! ((((((hugs!!!)))))) love, mom
Having an "away" place to store your crafty supplies would definitely help. You don't need to stop, by any means! (just get in the habit of cleaning up after yourself ) One thing that just occurred to me (and this might be totally obvious to everyone else or I could have just invented it) is to find or concoct a recipe for edible paint (that's not all sugar). That way as he gets older and into things more, when you feel like making art he can join you! Good luck, mama!
yeah, I had to pretty much dismantel my craft area when Leane learned she could get into everything. Now I store it all away and when I mood strikes for a certain craft, I only get out what I need at the time. Like my yarn is all in a basket together so that when I want to crochet, I just pull out this huge ass basket with all my hooks and everything I need, and it's out of Leane's touch.
