April 12, 2011

Child Locks

I know why all the experts tell you to baby-proof BEFORE the baby comes. I thought we did...I bought a few outlet covers and thought the rest was unnecessary. Then we got cabinet locks for our kitchen. I skipped the drawer locks because Brooklynn couldn't reach them anyway. (Now she can.) Then we started just putting things that we didn't want her to get on top of the counter or in our room or just "up high." We're running out of places...and she can reach them all now, anyway (the bad part of having really tall children). I need to build a shelf around the top of every single room in the house. Not only can she reach things on the counter, but she is smart enough to go get a stool, climb up on it and reach whatever thing she wants. So now we have to just put things in our room...and our room is a MESS from just throwing things in there. Boy does that room need some work.
Brooklynn has been emptying her entire dresser every time she is in there. It really delays her nap and it also makes a big mess for me to clean up. I've tried having her help me, and she does, but it isn't really folded at all when she helps.
So I broke down and bought child locks for all the things in Brooklynn's room the other day. And so far it has taken me one full evening and one FULL morning of trying to put them on. I'm still not done.
One reason is that I have to wait for a time when Brooklynn isn't in there sleeping. I tried last night so Josh could watch the girls. I kept dropping the screws...over and over and over. ANY time I try and fix or hang anything this is a common problem for me. I FINALLY got two of the doors for her bookcase done...and we couldn't push bedtime back any more. I still had one more door and three drawers for her dresser left.
So this morning I attempted to tackle this and start first thing in the morning. I literally worked on it every chance I could. I even skipped breakfast because I wanted to get some done while Brooklynn was strapped in a booster chair. I had to take a break to feed Gabby, I took another break to get Brooklynn out of her chair, change her and get her dressed. I had to take several breaks to get Gabby to stop crying so I could maybe? put her down in her bouncy seat so I could get back to work on the child locks. Today was a Cece day but she wasn't coming until 11 so I had all morning to finish before Brooklynn's nap later. There is no way I'd be able to try and work on it with all three kids there...Brooklynn just can't be trusted to be nice to them. So that is why I was working so hard to try and get it done. There are clothes all over Brooklynn's room, all over the hallway. Basically I refuse to put the clothes back away until I get the locks done or I'll just be doing it again after her next nap. And frankly, I'm sick of clothes all over the house. I want to get them back in the drawers. And it's hard to get the kids dressed because there are NO clothes left in the dresser. 
Guess how many locks I got done for the entire morning before Cece got here? ONE. That is IT. So...I will be working on them again when Josh gets home. I only have three more to put on. Should be easy, right?
(Now if only my screwdriver hadn't run out of juice after the last lock...I'd be set.)

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