So anyway... we are doing our best to play catch-up now. We are trying really hard to put away the dangerous things in our home (Bag O' Glass, Bag O' Nails, Bag O' Sulfuric Acid); as well as throw useless things away, donate all items we can, pack up things we don't use regularly, and make the best use of our shrinking-every-second 1500 sq ft townhouse. We even rented a POD to store things we don't use on a regular basis, but we still want to keep (extra furniture, out-of-season clothing, baby items Jake has already outgrown but that we want to keep for future children).
Tonight I went to Babies 'R' Us in persuit of all things baby-proof. I bought cabinet locks, outlet plugs, soft corners for sharp edges - you name it! But the worst obstacle so far has been finding a baby gate to fit the staircase from our kitchen to our basement. It is an odd configuration - a banister on the left, a wall on the right. I found one gate that I thought would work with this situation, but because the banister and the wall aren't parallel, a five inch gap was left over the open stairs! I just pictured Jake's little legs slipping through, not to mention countless toys that would make their way down there too. I tried every baby gate known to man. Five of them - bought, tried, failed, returned, or relegated to another perilous opening in our house. I have now spent nearly $300 (although some have been returned) on the following baby gates: The Supergate III, the Soft & Wide Gate, the Top of Stairs Gate, the Sure and Secure™ Custom-Fit Gate, and finally, the Hide A Way Gate. If I install one more dang gate, I'm gonna flip. There are so many holes drilled in my poor banister!
Here are a few pics from the one that finally worked, the aforementioned Hide A Way Gate, which works almost like a retractable shade - but can go across at an angle, so it worked for our house - finally!
Some of the tools I used in putting up our 574 baby gates:
The gate that worked next to a gate that didn't:
5 comments:
Bag 'o nails? Irwin Mainway says that's a perfectly safe kids toy. Dan Aykroyd rules.
Ha! So glad someone got the reference... should have known it would be someone who grew up in the same household as me.... :)
So, Kelly...would you be in the mood to put all of that knowledge to good use and come on over to our house and install our baby gates? You can be the President of the Irresponsible Parent Association, but I get to be VP, ok?
Kel, you forgot to mention some of the other dangerous "Mainway" items in our house: Pretty Peggy Ear-Piercing Set, Mr. Skin-Grafter, General Tron's Secret Police Confession Kit, Doggie Dentist, and my personal favorite...Johnny Switchblade: Adventure Punk
Suggestion: (one which you may have already thought of) Create a drawer in the kitchen (or wherever) that is Just For Jake. We have one for my niece, and she absolutely loves it! It's full of tupperwear, plastic spoons, cups, etc. that she can't hurt. This way, when you are in the kitchen and he does want to play he can. My niece is almost 2, and now, when she tries to get into other drawers, we just tell her to go to her drawer, and she does. :)
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