Straight From the Bottle

I feel this post! My daughter is a first child but she has mad mischief skillz. Licking the bottom of a dirty shoe? Delicious! Splashing in the dog's water dish and then turning it upside down? Best game ever! Kicking her crawling into high gear anytime she sees an open door? Super! And my all-time favorite: stairs. She looooves stairs. Especially the sloping concrete steps that lead from the house to the patio. Up and down and up and down and fits of crying if you try to stop her. The only things I've figured out is putting things up high, giving her things she can do that LOOK like they are dangerous (like boxes of plastic utensils and things from the cupboard), and watching her like a hawk. It is exhausting.

yeah, our son very quickly learned how to pull those plastic things out of the sockets. He climbs everything. He will find the one and only sharp edge in the house and slam his forehead into it. He will try to eat things he's not supposed to that I didn't know existed in our home in the first place. I just have to watch him constantly and hope for the best.

Biggest thing for us was, leaving a few cabinets in the kitchen he could get into (knives are locked up but what do I care if he gets the pots and pans out) so I wasn't telling him no or watching him get shut down by baby locks all the time. Same with living area, he gets shelves by our "grownup" shelves to keep stuff on/pull off/whatever. Keeping poisonous stuff or choking hazards locked away, NOT just on top of stuff because... well, I mentioned he climbs things, right?

So, I only have one baby at present- but I DO run an in-home day care, so lots of older kids toys abound. Yes, I've got the plastic on the sockets. Yes, I've got those impossible things for the cabinets- the things you screw in and ... well they're just impossible. Except my SEVEN MONTH OLD managed to OPEN one of the cabinets anyway. So, yea. And he is crawling and pulling up and the other kids are all over the house and.... proofing is nothing when set against the grabby hands of many children. So, really I just say "No" a lot and put things up really high or lock them in my room.

Who me? I know. No help at all, huh?

Rachel! My baby boy, also first child, is a shoe licker as well. oy.

I basically never sit down when I'm at home with the baby unless he's in his exersaucer.

He used to like to go into one of the cubbies of our book case so we took the books out of it and put HIS books in there. It actually worked.

I've been thinking about getting some baby fences since we have a rather open floor plan with not enough doorways to gate shut. I'd say strap her on but I remember you saying she's a big baby so I guess that's all I've got.

Good luck to us all!

My firstborn, Lucy, wasn't too adventurous until Mason was born and started getting into things pretty quickly.  He was walking by 9.5 months when she was just over 2.

I had to rely heavily on my play-yard.  Lots of friends called it a "cage" - but it was just plastic fence circle that I could put them if I needed to run to the bathroom, make dinner, go grab the other one who was screaming.  I didn't get too many chances to put them both in there together, but since Lucy didn't climb a lot and Mason was really content - I could gate her in to the living/playroom and leave him in the play-yard and know they were both safe.

I don't know if you have space in your apartment - but we did sacrifice our small dining room to have the space for it.  The table remains in our basement 2 years later and we now have a train table where it used to live.  But I have reused half of it to make a time-out space that Lucy can't run out of ten thousand times.

You can order the same thing online from places that have pet supplies as kid stuff - just look for the plastic one and I recommend the 2 piece extension so there's room for you to climb in too, which you will frequently.

My daughter walked at nine months.  Luckily, she falls like a wrestler.  I will look at the comments here as they fill up.  I do not have much to offer in the way of advice.  Turn the drawers around, give her a lot of stuff that she can play with, and realize that you will be doing this child-proofing now every day.  They are smart little buggers and she will out-smart you.

my son (first child) was amazingly fast and used to love the shoes too. He's better now thank goodness but I had to do a lot of child proofing. Got the lock things for drawers and cabinets at IKEA and locked the ones with stuff I didn't want him to get into like knives and flour (who wants to clean sugar and flour off the floor every other minute). I also got gates for the spaces I didn't want him to go to without me like the kitty litter area and by the front door to keep him in. We have gates going into our bedrooms too but they are there to keep the cats out more than keep W in. On the corners he smashed his head on the most we got these soft corner guards from Lion heart. And to keep him out of the trash we hid the rubbish bin behind one of the gates.

good luck

my solution has primarily been one of barricades - in our old house I had baby gates up everywhere that keep the kids in the specific areas that I knew were safe/ didn't contain anything off limits for touching/eating/throwing.  The kids could play in the living room and their bedrooms, but the kitchen and my bedroom were off limits. In our new house this isn't as feasible a plan because there are different floor, but fortunately my older two kids are a little beyond the most important babyproofing phase (they are 3.5 and 2), and my baby hasn't yet become mobile.  But I'm going to be in trouble when she is I think.  I primarily use the outlet covers that have sliding access to the sockets (the plastic caps you just stick on are too easy for kids to remove I think), and I use straps to keep any big furniture against the wall so it can't be pulled over.  I have never done anything about sharp corners because alot of our furniture doesn't have them, and while the dining table does, i haven't had too many instances of bumps.  There have been lots of near misses of course, which give me a heart attack each time, but i also think it's important for them to bang their head a few times to learn to be more careful.  Good luck!! and post your solutions in case this last baby is a real mover and shaker- I might need more heavy duty solutions this time!!

OMG my daughter is the 2nd child and my two sound almost exactly like Archer and Fable.  When she was about 15 months old she was toddling around the bathroom stall in the Wal Mart (i'm from GA you gotta say "the walmart" it never just walmart..) while i was peeing.  Turned around to find some TP and looked up to her LICKING THE STALL DOOR HANDLE!!!  I thought i was going to lose my JUNK!!  I was gagging and freaking out.  My best advise, buy the kits, cabinet latches, the whole nine yards.  She will eventually figure out how to breach all the safty devises, but it will at least buy you a few weeks/months.  Oh and watch out for her poop diapers, yeah mine ate her own poop too....i'm raising a winner i'm sure! I do love her cute butt, she's 4 now and (knock on wood) is over her quest for the nastiest thing to lick... I still shudder at the thought of the handle......

some children are just more oral than others.  My son put some of his toys in his mouth but that was about it.  My daughter, on the other hand, puts everything in her mouth and we were living in China at the time. Talk about the disgusting stuff you can find in China.  I keep telling myself she will have the strongest immune system of anyone I know.  She is now 3 1/2 years old and still puts everything in her mouth.  Her toys, especially her stuffed animals, are always wet with slobber.  You know those warnings on toys to not give to children under three because they are choking hazards?  Well, what age do I have to watch for because we are clearly not over the oral stage of development.  Even though I have this crazy little girl, I have never child proofed my house beyond putting dangerous stuff out of her reach.  I never used the door locks, plug covers, etc because we were living in China and you just can't buy that stuff there.  I just used constant reinforcement and she learned what she can and cannot get into.  Now, granted I had a full time Ayi working with us and that makes the biggest difference in the world because I was not doing this all alone all day long.  Now living back in the United States I am doing it all myself and we still have the issues of her chewing on grocery carts, seat belts on the airplane, pretty much anything loose and can fit in her mouth.  I just figure it hasn't killed her yet and we can all use more protein!! Yum! Good luck with Fable. I hope you can find a solution that works for you.

Oh goodness...mine started walking, nay, running, at just over 10 months though he's a firstie.  (Side note: Mom, you wanted a child just like me for me.  You got the order wrong and I got wild child second daughter!)  We have a baby-fence to keep the rest of the house off limits to the family den, which is the room we have made the most baby friendly in the house. We do have the corners for the (raised, stone, sharp, instant stitches requiring gash causing, and hey, that's on me not even the baby) fireplace hearth, plug covers, a TV console that has a glass door and latch (to keep the ever so sweet looking to a roving tot DVD player and VHS player behind), and shelves all the way around the room at about 6.5' above the floor.  Anything NSFB is up there.  He has bins and baskets for his books and toys.  Now if we could just figure out how the heck to convince him that he doesn't need to shake the pole of the halogen lamps.....we're working on it...

Plastic covers for the knobs on the stove.  Our kid would have blown up the house (we have a gas stove)

My daughter is 11.5 months and we are running into the same issues. She wants to put everything in her mouth and we are kinda childproofing as we go along. We still need to install our gates on the stairs but we have put the cabinet locks on and those have definitely helped. She is our first baby so we are kinda blindly fumbling through this. I will be watching the comments for tips as I am not really sure what all to do

Not quite the baby proofing comment, but I do want to toss out there that if you have a baby that's that oral, you might consider doing tests for lead.  In Milwaukee it's routine but I know in other cities it's not, and two of my kids needed iron supplements to bring down their lead levels.  No peeling lead paint in our home, but we did find out you shouldn't let your kid suck on your keys, and things like toilet paper of all things contain some lead.

We did the normal stuff - gates, socket covers, latches to close the cabinets, door knob covers, locks for the oven. And while patting ourselves on the back for being so smart and safe, we realized he didn't care about those stuff. He kept opening the broiler (at the bottom of the stove) and trying to climb in. Talk about a Hansel and Gretl moment!

We had to tape the entire thing closed because none of the latch things we found could work on the broiler. He spent hours on end chipping away at the tape to try to get back in. We went through two rolls of duct tape before he finally gave up that we wouldn't let him roast.

Your Fable = My Rowan. Seriously. This kid didn't give a rat's patootie about toys, she wanted whatever we had or whatever we didn't want her to have. I say it's a sign of intelligence. *smug look*

OK, here's one no one's mentioned. We are still using it. Rowan was big on pulling books/CD's off shelves, and getting into electronic cords.

I went to our local glass place and had them cut sheets of plexiglass the size of the front of our bookshelves/CD shelf, and one for under the table that has our electronics on it. They rounded the corners so they wouldn't be sharp. I then secured them using pieces of thin black elastic from the sewing store tied around it. When you need to get a book/CD, you can slide it up or pull it out enough, but she can't get at it. Plus, remote controls work through plexi. It was a little pricey, but soooooo worth it. Plus, it looks a lot better than a baby gate--most people don't even notice it.

Other than that, cabinet latches, moving sharp stuff and chemicals way up high, and lots of watching. Oh, and I bought a baby leash. I don't care--it was peace of mind when I needed it. (We have to walk our dog a lot, and she wouldn't always stay in the stroller.)

My stepmother was convinced she didn't need to babyproof for our visit--"Oh, we'll just watch her!" After having to stand in front of a cabinet for 45 minutes because Rowan WOULD. NOT. GIVE. UP., she acquiesced and started wrapping handles with rubber bands.

Hmm, you think the mom knows something about her own kid? ;-)

Good luck!

My only guy is eight months old and is into everything like Fable. He crawled at seven months, figured out the under the sink door locks in under a minute, chewed one of my flipflops into little bits, stuck his fingers in the dog's eye, and sucked on the laces of my husband's boots. That was in the fifteen minutes it took me to get ready this morning. I know your pain! I bought locks for the cabinets that need a magnetic key, that way no matter how agile James is, he can't magic it open.

May sound a little old fashioned, but we didn't bother with devices as they were too annoying and expensive. Pots and pans, and cans and bags of food that could be handled were kept down low in drawers my son could pull out and play with - especially when I was trying to prepare dinner. When he went for electrical cables and anything super dangerous including the stairs, we just yelled 'No, not for babies' at him until he got the message. As for the dirt/licking, isn't it good for their immune system?

for a cheap solution to padding corners, go to you closest hardwear store and by plumbers pipping, its usually black and really cheap, cut it into sections and stick it on corners, its perfect!

We have 2 kids, similar in age to yours (4.5 boy and 13 month girl).  The second one is in to everything, but with us we were already used to it and let her go.  Our son, was never a naughty kid, just BUSY.  I'd say, try to get them to play together.  I know it works for us.  When she is into something she shouldn't be, we have Kermit bring her something of his, and she always follows him back to the toys.  Plus, she'll learn sharing from all of this.  There is no right answer, just keep trying to re-direct her attention until you run out of patience, then have a drink! Also, if she is constantly in to things she shouldn't be, bring her along with you.  When you go to make dinner, if Fable will sit still, put her in the highchair and let her "cook" with you.  Let her help with the laundry.  It takes a lot more patience, but at least you know she is near you and safe.  GOOD LUCK!  It's not easy, but so worth it.

Wow - I will be tracking the responses on this post for sure! My second daughter (9 months) just started fully crawling on Sunday and damn if she isn't a speedy little thing already. Like Archer, my first daughter was slower to do everything and just mellow - she actually never crawled - went right to pulling up and then walking. But even so, never really got in to anything dangerous and/or disgusting.

Avery? Different story altogether. And now my hubby and I are at a loss looking at each other going "Huh. Guess we need to babyproof - and oh yeah, guess we need to get all of the Polly Pockets (4 1/2 years olds favorite possessions) and whatnots out of reach..."

Good luck to you and Hal - sounds like we'll all be in bobbler chaos together!

Ok, so I don't have a second child, just the one.  The one who is almost one!  But she is so much like Fable.  Her favorite toy is rocks... girlintheroom.blogspot.com/.../my-daughter-rock-thrower.html

She has been walking since she was 9 1/2 months and has been getting around long before that.  At first I was really gung-ho on the whole child proofing thing but Nola could get into mischief in a padded cell and I am really not interested in having her live in a bubble.

That said, some things that did work were to rearrange my bottom cabinets with enticing items that she can play with--measuring spoons and cups, metal bowls, even a salad spinner.  She feels like she is getting into things and it gives me a few minutes to get things done in the kitchen.  Likewise, in the bathroom, I put the towels in the bottom shelf along with things like an empty container from wet ones (she really loves it for some reason) and this often buys me a little time to get ready.

Aside from that, it is still a whole bunch of watching to make sure she doesn't put leaves, rocks, shoes, dog toys, dog food....in her mouth.

By the way, how is sleep going?  

It is too bad we aren't in Los Angeles anymore.  I think Nola and Fable could get into some serious mischief together.  They seem like they are cut from the same cloth.  Yeah sleep is sucking here too.  And like Fable, Nola is cutting four (possibly six) teeth. I feel you on the sleep or lack there of.

Emery is just like Fable!!  and Sage just like Archer!  I didn't ever babyproof with Sage, she just didn't get into anything!  Emery, oh Emery!!  We were outside playing the other day and Sage wanted me to watch her spin, I took my eyes off of Emery for 4 seconds to watch the spin ( a wonderful spin I must add!), I looked back at Emery and she had something in her mouth.  I pried those jaws open and found a dried up worm in her mouth!  I'm considering put her in a bubble!!

I didn't child proof ANYTHING with my daughter.  She turned out great.  I'm always worried that our next one will be much more difficult because the first was so easy!

I have a picture kind of like the last one of Fable, of Jack. He swiftly put a leaf in his mouth before I had a chance to intervene and then BAM! Started choking on it at the park. I knew I was a mother when I stuck half my hand in his mouth, pulled it out by the stem that was about to go down his throat and tossed it to one side like nothing happened. We were on a a college campus and all the students looked at me like I was freaking Dr. Quinn.

My second is 15 months, and he only wants things that we do not want him to have. His favorite thing in the world is to splash in the toilet. And throw toilet paper around so it gets all soggy. We have to keep the bathroom door closed at all times, and finally had to put a child proof doorknob protector on because we found out our 3 year old was opening the door for him. I guess the best advice is to put anything dangerous up high, and let her have some of the things that won't hurt her, like plastic containers and wooden spoons. We filled a bottom drawer in the kitchen with stuff like that and he goes straight for it. He is also fearless, and will climb anything and heads right for any open door. All we can do is watch him, and when he is quiet know that there is probably something bad going on. Good luck, I'm sure they will outgrow it, right?

The best thing we bought... www.leapsandbounds.com/.../product.jsp

Second best thing, clear shoe boxes for my sons "not safe" toys.  :)

Oh yes,def with you on the 2nd child thing - the first time I knew Orla could move from one side of the room to the other was when I found her chewing on her sister's very muddy (and goodness knows what else!?!) welly! yuck!  I second the magnetic locks - no way they can get in without the magnetic 'key' and also much easier for adults to use too!  I also 'trained' my older, more sensible child to 'police' her sister! She would yell 'Orla is doing X!' at whatever opportunity knowing she would be in my good books for 'helping' look after her little sister - it has def saved some major scrapes that's for sure, as you just can't be right next to her all the time (plus she shifts like lightning!), add that to the sleep deprivation and my response time is severly lacking. kids eh?

oops forgot to add - toilet lock - saved so many things being 'posted'!

I have virtually no advice. My second born is the same way. Heck, he's 2.5 and he STILL chews on shoes. My flip flops in particular. And just last week, my 3 year old came running in screaming, "Dante's on the roof!" And there he was, not on the roof, but on his way! He climbed up a ladder his father left out and was in the process of hauling his chubby little butt up onto the top of an 8 foot wall when I caught hold of his foot. So, yeah, no advice here, just lots of sympathy.

I had an infant when my oldest was 3. We stopped playing with all toys that had small parts. Unfair? Probably. But a little unfairness to the oldest was a small price to pay in my mind for my youngest not choking to death on a polly pocket.

There's no foolproof childproofing. My youngest is into everything and has eaten leaves, dog food, random cheerios that have been on the floor of my van for goodness knows how long. But all of that has taught me the attitude of "eh, it won't kill her, she'll be fine, it's gross, but she'll be fine."

Babygates are magical, empty out bottom bookshelves, and hide trash cans if out in the open. I did end up just taking a table out of our family room for piece of mind. oh, and a toilet lock.  we figured that one out after 145$ for the plumber to come out.  I have a proffesional mischief maker who is 3 and twin crawlers who seem to be aspiring in his footsteps.

Love, my two-year-old has eaten a bottle of TUMS, snorted Tic-Tacs up her nose, fallen off the bed more times than I can count, and she's still going strong. Thankfully child protective services hasn't found my blog and taken her away yet!

I have three boys now 6, 3 and 1. The more kids you have the less you can watch the baby. I understand completely. My advice is actually to get rid of things. Put coffee tables against the wall or in a closet or something. That makes more room for play w/o the chance of slicing their head open. As far as leaves and dirt are concerned, I stopped worrying about that with #3. They are tough. They'll spit it out, because leaves aren't fun to eat. I've simplified everything. My poor 6 year old can't play with his multi-piece magnet-build it yourself toys unless the baby is napping and then we pick them all up OR he has to play with it in another room with the door closed. It's too hard to keep those small toys out of their reach and it's so easy to miss one on the floor. Simplify. That's my advice. Good luck. As soon as you know it, she'll be on to bigger and better stuff. I agree with the other moms too about not saying NO all the time. Keep it for the big stuff.

In four years I have not managed how to use a baby gate reliably. Even the same one...I am utterly befuddled.

I'm with Sarah on this. My three boys are just about the same age as hers (the youngest is just 9 months), and I say get the chokables out of the house or confine them to a certain room. Simplify, move shit or get rid of it. And don't worry about plant matter. :) If they don't spit it out, it will come through in their diaper. (Rocks they usually just suck on for a bit and spit them out again.)

Good luck. My third is climbing and almost walking at 9 months whereas #2 wasn't even crawling yet. These little buggers can be fast. ;)

I call my little guy lint licker.  He puts every little thing he finds on the floor in his mouth.  The other day he pulled a mirror off the wall, like pulled the screw out of the wall and the mirror shattered all around him.  He wasn't hurt, thank goodness.  Someone was looking out for him.  My older boys were never like this.  I feel like a fish out of water with this one.  But he does keep me on my toes.

We live in a tiny Brooklyn apartment so I think baby proofing was easier. We just keep moving stuff higher than she can reach and so far so good. All of the stuff within her reach is stuff she can play with, even if it isn't toys because she, life Fable, is not a fan of toys.

I think she plays with a lot of questionable items but most won't kill or maim her!  We have created several stations at her level to play with. Cupboards are full of pots and pans and safe stuff, bottom book shelves are safe books, wires are hidden behind furniture or panels.

She has the run of the house and it really didn't take a lot of work to make it quasi safe. She has been an uber crawler since 8 months, and is now about to walk at 11 months so I'm sure we will have to revisit this soon.

Also, give her old phones, cameras and remotes to play with, they work for a little bit.

BTW, Emma loves to eat shoes and boxes what is up with that?

Good luck.

Dude. We are still on our first monster - and there are lots of things against his religion, including sleep, cribs, and baby toys. He prefers shoe soles and boot laces, book bindings and basket edges, cutting boards and colanders. Therefore, our investment in household items for his first birthday should not seem insane - we already know that he would prefer to play with the new blender, rather than a firetruck.

We have resorted to childproofing all of our door and cupboards with safe-T locks. It is far more effective to redirect him to a cupboard/shelf/drawer that he can empty and destroy rather than redesign our little home. And, yes, we just pick up the bowls, the spoons, the pans - place them back in the cupboard - and use.

My kids are grown but I recently had to babyproof when my daughter came to visit with her two-year old and three month old baby. The two-year old picks up every single loose object he can to inspect (and sometimes throw), so I went through the whole house and put away almost everything he could possibly damage or get into, and then my daughter walked in and pointed out a bunch of things I missed. It really does work to keep them busy with other stuff (we always kept the plastic stuff in one of the lower drawers in the kitchen for the kids). But you just have to watch them; they'll always find other stuff to get into. When my daughter was three she liked to flush things down the toilet, like pizza, and put stuff up her nose, like candy and popcorn kernels. And one time my son somehow got outside through a sliding door and crawled UP A HILL and almost into the street. I was on the phone and looked out the window just in time to see my daughter, who was four at the time, crying and holding onto his ankle and him pulling against her. That was a heart-stopping moment. I don't know any mother who hasn't had at least one scary moment with each kid; you just know it's going to happen - just like you know each kid is going to either throw up or have a massive diarrhea problem (or both) in public at some point. You just do as much as you can to make them as safe as possible, but they're tough little things, they'll be fine.

"Turned around to find some TP and looked up to her LICKING THE STALL DOOR HANDLE!!!"

"lint licker"

OMG, people, do you realize that, just by posting this, the air around Little Miss Kickboxer will fill with all of these ideas, and then I'll be the one chasing my lint-licking todder through The WalMart, pants down, of course (me), on her way to the shoe department where she'll go for a snack off the Timberland soles?

I want to crawl into a tiny hole right now ...

my second was a whirlwind, like yours.  i thought my home was babyproofed, until he came along.  i had to remove the handle from the front of my stove so he couldn't open it.  got a frig lock but he was so strong he was able to rip it off.  i had to move many, many things up up and away, out of sight, out of reach.  he liked to climb our bookcases so we had to fasten them to the walls.  there was no point in things like outlet covers because he would have just taken them out.  had to watch him like a hawk -- and he survived -- and so did i !  :)

My daughter is 10 months and I don't think I can baby proof enough. The child gets into everything all day long and wears me out. One second she is crawling all over me shoving her knee into my boob and the next she is in the bedroom with the cord to my laptop ripped out and stuck in her mouth. Do you know that it costs $80 for a replacement power cord to an apple laptop and we had to replace 2!! It's awesome, she can go to my side and ahh a computer with this thing hanging out of it to rip and ahh there's another one over here next to daddies change that mommy has told him over and over and over not to put on his side table. A quarter and another power cord-yummy!! Then there's the stairs, the bottom of shoes (yuck) the little cap that covers the bolt on the toilet, the dog hair (the siberian husky is not fond of the heat), a random string on the floor, the cat food, the dog food, the water bowl (pure heaven), the box from the gift grandma sent and her favorite is the mail. She will stick any piece of paper she can find in her mouth so she can tear a little piece and smack on it. The printer no longer has paper in it because she could not control her obsession. She loves to stand and open and close the wooden blind on the patio door, crawl over me to get up on the couch, open and close drawers and doors and every time I set her on the counter next to me so I can do something she turns around and sticks her hand in the fish bowl. I have hidden the second bottle of fish food after she happily unscrewed the lid on the first one and poured it all over herself, the counter and the floor. We've also had to move all of daddies medical books up a shelf and put toys on the bottom in hopes that she will leave them alone-hahaha fat chance. Some days I wish she would just sit down and watch sesame street for 2 minutes without moving so I can take a break. We put the glass coffee table in storage but other than that we are trying to teach her that some things are not hers and she may not play with them rather than baby proofing everything. I've actually seen people go way overboard and wrap sheets around the edges of tables and tape them in place to prevent bumps. Then there's the people who buy the foam play mat x10 and cover their entire house in it to prevent bumping the floor. I don't see the point in outlet covers when I have a child who will sit and ahhhh at the top of her lungs until she gets it out or figures out how it works, it's easier to teach her that it is a big no no.

Well, they always say girls are faster, and certainly the Bun is a bit behind where Pumpkinpie was at this age...

My best tip is to create with gates one totally child-proofed space so you can leave her for a few minutes to go to the bathroom and such. Totally sanity-saver. I am a gate freak, and big on eletric plug covers. I do cover sharp table corners with bumpers. I limit latches to a few cupboards, though, and put all the nasties in those. For the others, I just put the stuff that's pretty safe at the bottom where babies can reach. Stuff like plastics and pots and cans. Then they can play with them, which is totally distracting and great, snice it can give you your hands free.

Also becuase PP has lots of toys with wee bits, The BUn isn't allowed into the playroom until I baby-ize it, which will involve sending all tiny toys to PP's room, with the added benefit that they are "her" toys. I tell her anything she leaves out is fair game, so she does pay attention to keeping them where they belong. I have also given her a shelf up high on the main floor for her stuff. Helps her feel like she's not being pushed out, but that we are protecting her goodies from the clutches of the babe.