Baby Proof

When Rowan was a wee one he wouldn't leave my side. He wouldn't even go in another room in the house if I wasn't there. He would explore the house but wouldn't put things in his mouth and I didn't really worry much about him doing anything dangerous or having an accident since he was just not that kind of kid. Poppy..well...she's got an adventurous spirit. We still have the electrical outlets covered since that was the one thing Rowan did like to play with, but otherwise we haven't done any other 'baby-proofing' of the house. Some days we continually climbed up and down stairs with her because she loved the stairs. But usually after going up one or two we'd bring her back down and get her attention near us again. We've had a few things end up in the toilet and we've recently decided to keep the garbage can in the pantry because we've lost a few things in there...but that makes it easy when we go out since we put the garbage away for the dog anyway. But I'm in a bit of a dilemma because I love the idea of letting my kids explore their surroundings on their own terms. Yes, it makes for a HUGE mess ALL day long many days. And I have to be proactive and put the cleaners up out of reach and any other real dangers out of the way. But (see picture) I really think that kids learn when they have the freedom to do so - when their environment is safe enough but not sterile. Because toys are fine, but they do get boring. But a cupboard full of dish cloths, tea towels, table cloths, and place mats, now that's HOURS of entertainment! The dish of keys by the door - also far more interesting than other small symbols that adults think small children should be interested in. And they are real life materials. A basket of plastic food is.....a basket of plastic food. Who says that's what interests children? An adult who probably didn't want the kids emptying out the fridge and putting things back in repeatedly! Not saying that's wrong or bad - I do have days where I wonder if I should simplify my life and put a few cupboard locks up. But I can't go there yet. I don't really complain about being tired, but I do acknowledge that these choices I make for my kids do make more work for us as parents (and I am pretty darn tired!). And it's also partly how I think kids learn self-preservation. We sleep on mattresses on the floor so our small children can crawl up and down the bed easily. Rowan fell out of the bed twice and Poppy once. They learned the parameters of the bed by falling off and now even in their sleep they know where the edge is. Poppy can go up and down the stairs on her own at 14 months because she's had so much practice. We do have a dog who doesn't know that she can easily knock the baby down the stairs by accident so we can't let Poppy have free access unsupervised to the stairs. But for the most part our house is as much of a free learning environment as we can make it!

(These pictures are the kitchen floor after Poppy was in the tea towel cupboard and one after she found a bib she needed to wear and some rubber boots in the front closet!)