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.

Cool, I will see you soon, Steph, and try to remind you later tonight, Cashmere.

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?

We keep running up against the problem of too much stuff in too small a space. That said, if we just got rid of all the cookbooks we never use, we'd probably only have about a third as many, and it'd be easier to store them out of reach. But there's really no other place to put that lamp. Every wedge-able corner is already full.

That fence thing Gud posted looks like a good option, though. At least she'd have a bigger space to roam than her playpen. That's what makes me feel guilty--I feel like she needs more roaming time/space than what I give her.

Good then, sounds like a fairly easy fix. I can just imagine how frustrating that must be Susan, trying to deal with time and work and space issues all at once.

Trudy, I am SO NOT FOOLED by your evil month sock puppet!

The tag gave you away. Now GET OFFA MY LAWN! (and your little dog, too)

Anyone know what Kwistin is going on about?

Deena, give Kara a hug for me. I was pouty too.

Also, the weather in Cincinnati is great, at least today, even though it was cold and there were a few flakes of snow falling when I left Cleveland.

I just keep reminding myself that babies grow up healthy and normal under conditions much worse than ours WRT space, stimulation, etc., and that none of this seems to be retarding her physical and intellectual development--I mean, arguably, if she had more safe space and therefore more opportunity to roam, she might've walked at ten months like most babies in my family. But she's walking now, so it's not like she's even remotely behind schedule.

(For the record, note that I'm not worrying. I'm talking myself out of worrying. It's a different vibe.)

Hee. MSN's entertainment feature today: The Music of Mullets

Schedules mean very little. Some children hit ALL their milestones late and develop fully, even magnificiently.

Safe, loved, and not pressured-- I'm pretty sure that's about 99% of the development of an otherwise healthy child.