For the past month, I have been baby-proofing our home. But two pressing factors caused me to hurry up and get it done: 1) Andrew has become an expert crawler and a great big nosy-body; 2) Intensive Care Pediatric Nurse Auntie Susan and Grandma Ichinaga are visiting us this Wednesday. If a hurt Andrew and a pair of pissed-off Ichinagas aren't enough to get my butt a-running, I don't know what will.So I thought I would go over what baby-proof items I found useful and not useful. Today, I'll go over a handful of things that I am currently using around our house:
CRIB RAIL GUARD: This probably isn't necessary for every baby, but Andrew loves to get his teeth on everything -- including his crib. The rail on his crib got to the point where much of the varnish came off. My first solution was to remove the crib gate completely, but stupid Andrew kept on rolling off the mattress. And then I found on Amazon this crib guard. It's basically one long piece of plush fabric that you velcro over the top of the crib gate. Instead of biting wood, your child is now biting a soft, tender pillow. As an added treat, I filled the entire pillow with baby formula so Andrew can have a nice late night snack whenever he wants.
SAFETY GATE: This is a picture of the gate we bought: an Evenflo Soft and Wide Gate. What I like about this gate is that it is pressure-mounted so there is no need for tools. It's especially ideal for us since we are just leasing our place and there's not need to drill hardware into every doorway. Plus I am prohibited by a court order not to use power tools after my mishap at the local Gymboree (who knew nails would actually shoot out of a nail gun?).
FOAM EDGING: Even though it looks pretty tacky around our pristine and expensive IKEA furniture, I can't tell you how many times this has prevented Andrew from bleeding all over his face. Really. I can't tell you. I hardly watch or supervise the kids at all. Why else do you think I'm baby-proofing the house? Papa needs his beauty sleep, kiddies! I haven't put this on every piece of furniture, but you observe where your kid likes to play and then try to foam it up.
MAGNETIC CABINET LOCKS: I previously bought cabinets locks that you screw into wood, but because of the way our cabinets are mounted it was very difficult to do. The locks I bought are mounted with super-duper tape and are released when you place a magnetic key over the hook. All very simple to do. I placed these locks underneath our kitchen sink where we have a multitude of cleaning products. I also placed them underneath my bed to protect my adult magazine collection (don't tell Lisa!).
PART 2: What's a Waste of Time and Money (a.k.a. I'm Too Damn Lazy)
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