Baby Blog

I probably couldn’t say when my baby boy started walking exactly. This is because sometimes he still crawls and more often than not he lands on his bottom when he tries to cross a room. I would say he was still in a transition stage and couldn’t officially be said to be walking until all the bumps and bruises and returns to hands and knees are over. But even this transition stage has caught us out a little bit and sent dad scrambling for the drill.

You see, I have a confession. I bought all the cupboard safety latches months ago, probably the first time the pediatrician mentioned it was time to baby proof the whole house. They went in the cupboard with the fridge lock, toilet seat latch and outlet covers. We would get to it later we thought, you know when Nik could walk. It wasn’t like he was ever left unattended right?  It wasn’t like he could get to an outlet or open a cupboard?

I do the basic safety checks every morning, checking the floor for loose change and paper clips, ensuring anything I don’t want the baby to have is well out of his reach. The corners of our furniture have been padded and the excess clutter and knick knacks removed from his play area. All seemed well for a while.

And then Nik started to practice walking and the whole house finally shifted into focus.

Because with walking, your baby isn’t only mobile, they have an extended reach. And because you are so focused on watching your little one take their first excited steps, you don’t notice that they have learned to open cupboards. That’s why they tell you to baby proof way before you get to this stage. You live and learn and thank goodness our lesson wasn’t too unnerving.

My computer went down at the end of last week. I was distracted and mourning the untimely (well, not really its old) passing of my modem and trying to figure out how to get back online and didn’t notice that Nik had escaped. I have a moveable barrier between the hallway and the living room which isn’t supposed to keep him in just give me time to react. Nik pushed the barrier to one side and trotted off to the kitchen.

As I spoke with tech support and ordered my new modem I glanced around for my son. I noticed he was in the hallway and banging around. As long as I can hear him I know he is okay. It’s the quiet that makes you worry. But at the same time as I remembered my son could now walk I remembered my husband hadn’t baby proofed the cupboards.

I met my son in the hallway where he was brandishing the long metal grilling fork out of the kitchen cupboard like a sword as he toddled after a very upset cat. I grabbed the fork, admonished the baby and pacified the cat; then woke up the husband and handed him the drill.

Lesson learned. Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today? Yeah, I finally agree with that one.  Your baby will be walking before you have time to realize it. Get that house baby proofed as soon as they can talk.

By the way, Nik’s new word is “cupboard.”