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I thought I did a good job baby-proofing our home. I researched the subject on the web, came up with my list, and presented the “honey do list” to my husband. He dutifully began working on the list so as to make the house safe for our precious little one long before our son was even creeping.

We thought we had it covered. We didn’t. Despite our watchful eyes, his 4 attentive older sisters, countless hours of research and an incredible amount of time spent purchasing and installing baby safety products, our little one can still find dangerous things to do.

For example, he discovered that if he dug his finger in at such an angle, he could get the grout and marbles(yes, real marbles) out from between the custom tiles in the living room. He discovered that if he rammed his walker at a certain speed, he could pop open the child safety latches. He found that he could stretch his arm far enough out the cat door to grab sticks and stones if he pressed his head tightly to the door. His hand was just the right size to stick under his sister’s door to get some “Polly Pocket” pieces–the ultimate forbidden prize!

He found out that dog food tastes pretty good and that the fish tank will sway if he bangs on the stand hard enough. He discovered it is possible to topple the garbage can. He’s also learned that the dog will eat his paperboard books if given the opportunity. Yesterday, he decided to try to crawl into the cat’s litter box.

On one hand, I’m thrilled with his eye hand co-ordination and frankly, his creativity. On the other hand, I’m amazed at the amount of destruction he can actually get into even though he’s very well supervised. So much for those lists! To think I actually thought after 5 kids that I had a clue. He sure showed me!

I’m finding that daily, my husband and I are “tweaking” the baby-proof list and coming up with our own solutions to the safety problems. For example, I covered the custom tile job with a carpet that I taped down. We actually attached the fish tank stand to the wall so it isn’t able to wobble at all. I re-organized my daughter’s room so she no longer stores her Polly Pocket dolls and accessories near the door and lectured her about how she needs to play with them at the far corner of her room, and how the door needs to absolutely stay shut.

Even so, our son is still one step ahead of us. I predict that just when we get the house baby proofed for our crawling protege, he’ll begin walking–and we’ll begin baby-proofing again.

Tags: baby-proofing, child safety, crawling, experiments, walking