Friday, January 14, 2005

What Babyproofing?

I was reading SBFH's account of her evening and it made me laugh aloud. Here's my evening of child wrangling.

Fussy baby wants to pound on the keyboard while daddy makes dinner. I sit her on the floor - one foot away from me! - for a moment while I hook up the baby keyboard.

Ominous silence. I look down. Baby has found a flower pot and dumped it all over the carpet. She is covered in dirt and has a huge mouthful. She's busy trying to shovel more in. This is a child who won't eat fruit. No pears, but dirt is A-OK.

We get her cleaned up and sit her down so that daddy can finish dinner and I can vacuum the floor and remove the emptied flower pot.

Splash! (Doggie water dish goes up onto counter.)

Clank! Rrrrrrrr (Empty doggie food dish rolls across the kitchen floor.)

I wash her hands again and move the baby to the middle of the family room floor, amidst hundreds of appealing toys and several more appealing non-toy items like furniture to climb on and DVD cases to dismantle.

Whirrrrr. (That would be *something* going into the DVD player.)

"Oh, no, honey, don't touch the DVD player" (Mama shoots a meaningful look at daddy that clearly says 'entertainment center.')

Daddy laughs. "Weren't we going to baby proof the house like 4 weeks ago?"

Mommy glares. "Like 5 months ago."

Seriously, though. Other parents complain about this stuff. We're thrilled. I immediately called my parents to brag. Curiosity! Mobility! Strength! Problem-solving! (That flower pot had a plastic lid covering the dirt.) Typical toddler behavior! Goooooo Ellie!

2 comments:

Psycho Kitty said...

Hee hee! I love the dirt. Specifically because it isn't MY dirt, and believe me, this house has seen some dumped dirt. Here's the sound I've learned to hear from 3 miles away: Chair Scraping Across Kitchen Floor. Oh, the humanity!

Sarahlynn said...

And to think that I didn't think there would be occasion for me to say, "Thank heavens my thoughtful husband bought me a vacuum cleaner for Christmas this year!" (In his defense I'll admit that we really needed one and he does do the lion's share of the vacuuming.)