And right now I'm feeling ridiculously stressed because I'm here with Annabel in the closest thing to a childproofed room we have, and I just banished her to the exersaucer because I got so sick of pulling her away from the various areas that aren't quite childproof. Kid has toys all over the place. Why she can't play with them instead of alternating between trying to pull down the standing lamp by the TV, trying to take the laptop from me, and trying to pull all the cookbooks off the microwave stand, I have no idea.

Maybe I just need someone to help me figure out how to make this space more workable, but I keep thinking, "If only we had one more room, that would be Annabel's exclusive space that wouldn't have anything she's not allowed to get into, and I wouldn't feel like I'm leaving her in the playpen and exersaucer too often just to spare my sanity."

Perkins! Yay! I'm actually home now, b/c I slipped out early. I need to get some tomatoes at the grocery (and some more Oreos, b/c I ate a lot of them last night), but we can just run by there when I come over to collect you.

We're 2 blocks apart right now!!!!!

Do you want to chill for a bit? Or should I come over now now now? (I've never been in that B&B, and I want to see it.) And you can chill here?

Whatever you want is fine by me, because I am a mere 2 BLOCKS AWAY!!!

We have one of these:

[link]

It no longer works on Leif (who now can defeat all gates in the house), but it was useful for awhile.

Why she can't play with them instead of alternating between trying to pull down the standing lamp by the TV, trying to take the laptop from me, and trying to pull all the cookbooks off the microwave stand, I have no idea.

We had a free standing lamp that we had to wedge behind an end table and the sofa so that O couldn't get at it. Do you have somewhere else to put the cookbooks up? Maybe putting some of Annabel's books in their place will keep her busy for a while. I removed our books from the lowest shelves and put Owen's there so he can pull them off and read them to his heart's content.

It's just a matter of making small changes to the area you have now that can possibly give you less headaches. Don't think of keeping her out of them completely, but adjusting what she can get into safely so she can explore without getting into too much trouble.

We had one of those, too. It's also very handy for letting a kid play outside while you garden.

We had one of those, too. It's also very handy for letting a kid play outside while you garden.

I'm going to have to get one of those. Even though we've got a fenced back yard, with two dogs, it's like a mine field.

Why she can't play with them instead of alternating between trying to pull down the standing lamp by the TV, trying to take the laptop from me, and trying to pull all the cookbooks off the microwave stand, I have no idea.

Sara's the same way. She can open the fridge (the door of which we discovered was too thick for the fridge strap) and loves more than anything to take books off shelves, especially ones with pictures of people on the covers.

It's just all way more interesting than toys, especially since touching them usually results in attention from Mom, you know? Getting everything out of her reach probably isn't feasible, but do the best you can and remember that it's useful to start teaching her now that some things *aren't* hers to play with.

Thanks, Perkins. That was the way I'm planning on taking (since 71 is less than 2 miles from my house) and it's a straight shot. What kind of delays and how long shall I add to the travel time? I was giving myself a nice comfortable cushion of two hours drive time.

There were some minor construction related slow downs at several points, meaning in the middle of the afternoon I had to drop down to about 45/50, which wouldn't be a big deal, but then it gets down to one lane in each direction for about a mile. I wouldn't add too much to the 2 hours. I think I left Columbus about 2:20 and got here a little before 5:00, but I also stopped once to buy a soda, and hit Cincinnatti right about 4:30, so I got stuck in some rush hour traffic.

Yay to Kristin, hugs to vw and Gud, and other stuff I am probably forgetting for other people.

eta: Steph, I would love to hop in the shower quickly. How about at 5:30 or a few minutes after?

Thanks, Perkins. Duly noted. Oh, and can you remind me to bring my hip sling for O at some point? The aquarium doesn't always allow strollers so I want to make sure I have another option. I'll add 15 minutes or so to my drive time just to be safe. I should miss the rush hour leaving Columbus and hopefully beat it back here before it gets too bad. It will be a holiday weekend, so I'm not going to hold my breath, though.

eta: Steph, I would love to hop in the shower quickly. How about at 5:30 or a few minutes after?

You betcha. I'll go to the grocery, and I'll call your cell when I'm done.