Mommy and I were a little surprised when she did it several times last night. She's not able to lift it very far (an inch or two), and she can't hold it up for very long (four or five seconds), but she's definitely capable. I don't suppose it's anything to get too excited about. It will still be at least a couple of months before she can crawl. At least I hope that it will be that long.
But when I think about how much child-proofing I have to do between now and then, it actually doesn't seem that far away. We have a small place, so it shouldn't be too difficult. But there are several serious hazards that will require multiple lines of defense to make Mommy and I feel certain that our home is safe for Abby.
First, there is the balcony. We will install a plastic netting in the railing to keep her from falling out, and we will add an extra child-safety lock to the sliding glass door to deny her any access to the balcony at all.
We also live on the second floor, so the windows are an issue. We'll install the blocks that keep the windows from opening more than four inches.
There are stairs right outside of both the front and back doors, but both doors are recessed in the wall such that we can add a safety gate to keep her from being able to get outside.
We will add another safety gate to keep her out of our bedroom all together, but she will have basically free run of her room, the living room and the kitchen.
At this point, her room still has some of my things in it. These will have to be cleaned out once and for all.
In the living room, we are going to section of the entertainment center and bookshelves with an adjustable child-proof fencing (click here to see what we have in mind), and we will bolt the bookshelves to the wall for a second line of defense.
As for the kitchen, I need to ensure that the stove and dishwasher are properly latched into place in the back. And then there are the countless cabinet latches and closet door locks that will have to be installed.
I don't intend to wait until she can actually crawl to get all of this done. My plan is to get the living room squared away in a couple of weeks and to move out from there.
Any advice on child-proofing or child-proofing products would be much appreciated.
On a final note, Abby did enjoy her rice cereal when I made it with water. So she's not a complete prima donna. And actually I am not convinced that she won't eat formula-made cereal. I realized that the batch that she refused was quite a bit thicker than the other times I've made it. So it may very well have been the texture that put her off rather than the formula.
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