Mortgage Monday: More Babyproofing

When my wife and I were looking for a house it was always in the back of our mind the steps that we would have to take with each property both right away and in the near future to make sure it was a safe environment for our son. Some places were better than others and while the home we eventually purchased wasn’t exactly what we had in mind, we knew that it had everything we wanted and we could baby proof everything with relative ease. When we first moved into our home we, once again, took stock of what needed to be done but, since our son wasn’t mobile at the time, nothing was pressing.  

A few months later and the trips to Lowe’s, Walmart, and other stores became more frequent. When he first started crawling we made sure to take care of the babyproofing basics around the house. This consisted of making sure that the outlets had covers, baby gates were installed, and a foam buffer was secured around the hearth. At this point, we were pretty much ahead of the game in most regards. However, we quickly fell a little behind.

Before I knew it, I was putting up additional gates, including some handyman work to install the one at the top of the stairs, putting covers on door knobs, and constantly surveying the house for the odds and ends that could cause a problem. After a long weekend, we were once again where we needed to be but that didn’t last very long either. With our son’s first few steps that pesky list reappeared and quickly began growing until finally we couldn’t put it off any longer.

This time around things were a little more involved as we installed locks on the kitchen cabinets, secured furniture to walls, and rearranges some of the other items throughout the house so that it would remain out of reach of our son’s tiny curious fingers. This was also about the time that we had to readjust our car seats and install additional doorknob covers. Again, we got caught up rather quickly but find ourselves with a list that refuses to go away.

Each time we have to add or install things here and there we think back to some of the houses that we looked at during our search. Every time we are relieved that we made the decision that we did and purchased the house which we now call our home. It just goes to show that even if a house seems perfect and could have immaculate staging, you still have to think about your needs and how well that space works for you now and, more importantly, in the future.

TMI Tuesday: Standing

I still remember the look of both pride and sheer joy on our son’s face when he sat up by himself for the first time. I will always remember the moment when he finally figured out the coordination and started crawling. I continue to look forward to seeing him scurry from the playroom to greet me when I get home after work tugging on my pant leg until I pick him up. And, right now, I hold my breath a little bit every time he pulls himself onto his feet and sways as his legs continue to shake.

That is what he is focusing on now. He has figured out how to stand, how to pull himself up onto his feet, but he isn’t the most stable baby at this point. He is getting better but he also isn’t about to let go of his support anytime soon. And he hasn’t quite mastered the getting up to his feet part yet either. He actually gets pretty frustrated when it takes too many tries to get vertical. The same impatience that was on display when we was still figuring out how to crawl.

It is amazing how much he is able to do already and how much he has changed during the past couple of months. As he tries to do more his personality seems to develop more and more and, at the same time, he we can tell that he never wants to settle for what he is able to do right at that moment… he always wants to do more or at least do what he is working on better. Meanwhile, my wife and I are simply encouraging him and telling him “good job” as he stands there with his wobbly legs. That is obviously not good enough for him.

Actually, what we are seeing him start to do now that he has been standing for a couple of weeks is that he is starting to almost walk in place. It obviously isn’t very smooth and can sometimes cause him to lose his balance but you can tell that he is wanting to really be mobile… even as fast as he has become on all fours, crawling just isn’t good enough. We can tell already that he is going to be a handful as he gets older and is able to do more and more. This could get really interesting really soon… glad we finally put up baby gates last weekend!

TMI Tuesday: Crawling

It wasn’t long ago when our son figured out how to sit up by himself from his stomach. It was one of those things that my wife and I caught him doing on the camera and soon thereafter he would sit up when he felt like it or, on occasion, when daddy asked him to do it. Heck, that is how I was able to see him do it and the smile that he gave me afterward is something I won’t forget. Since then I have been able to ask our son to sit up before picking him up. He’s actually pretty good about following directions when he wants to be cooperative.

It seems like just a short time ago when we were enjoying those moments which were soon followed by scooching across the floor and sitting up and lunging in a different direction to get what he wanted. That turned into a quasi-Army crawl which then became a half crawl with primarily propelled him backward. He has moved well past all of those stages and now the forward momentum is taking over. We are in trouble.

It started with a couple steps forward followed thereafter by three or four shuffles back. As the counterproductive kinks got worked out he began moving a little further each time. The toys on the other side of the room weren’t so far away after all. Once he could clear the room without stopping he started picking up the pace. This was particularly noticeable when he started catching the battery operated train and cars that he once just looked at as they rolled by.

Now there is a little more purpose with his crawling as he knows to move toward the hallway so he can see daddy walk through the side door when he gets home. He can also crawl to a toy, almost like he is stalking it at times, and reach up with one hand and grab it while still supporting himself. From there he reverts back to an old trick and sits up so he can play with his prey.

I guess this means it is time to really start thinking about the different safety locks and baby gates because he seems determined to move around the house by himself. It is that time already. I don’t know how we got this this point so fast but it is time to evaluate and see what needs to be done so we don’t hear cabinets slamming on fingers and our son sliding back down the stairs like dirty laundry on a wash board. Time for some DIY.