The clincher
While casually sipping my iced teas porchside at my mother and stepfather's Florida home this summer, baby S has suddenly discovered that he's mobile. I haven't talked much to Seb about this, but baby S is off in a direction we never could have imagined before having children. He's crawling. I didn't bother explaining over the telephone because frankly he wouldn't be able to comprehend what I'm seeing until he gets here to see for himself. Baby S is into EVERYTHING.
Let me define everything: televisions, cupboards, the dishwasher, the bathroom toilet seat, electric cords, outlets, plugs, muck in the corners, dust, cat food bowl, the wine fridge, the crystal glassware, the mirrored wall, the litterbox, under the bed, the laundry basket and the sewing box . . .for starters. And this is only when I've turned my back to answer the phone or god forbid, take a bite of food.
Yes you can put the little tyke in a playpen which we sometimes do, but he howls like a banshee "llleeeemmmmmmeeeeeee- ouuuuuuuuuutttttttttt," until there is no sane option left but to plop him on the floor and follow him with watchful, hawk mother eyes. Watchful eyes get very tired. Watchful eyes get very lazy.
I think Seb will see that when we go home we have some work to do. I think it may be more work than we have the energy to do and this is frightening. If my parent's house is hard to babyproof than ours will be impossible. We have so many more hazards at home than we have here at their plushly carpeted Florida ranch. Our house is a haven for stray nails and screws, constant dust, drippy leaks and shaky, sharp stairs, grimy splinters and greasy radiator pipes. The list is just overwhelming. I don't know how we'll rewire the lower floor so that we can eliminate the extension cord mess, replace the living room's now grungy carpet, smooth the stucco we started but changed our minds on, secure the balconies, and block off the thousands of pitfalls he could potentially encounter. How?
Starting renovations we were childless at first and then I became pregnant after the first year. The pregnancy in itself was an eye opener about what kind of home we were bringing this baby into. Bringing the baby home was another eye opener. Suddenly a little bit more aware, we quickly scrambled to fine tune the older projects and warp speed some others. But now here we are at a point where nothing could have prepared us. This last week where the awkward, wobbly baby has suddenly become a person exploring his world, completely depending on us for his safety and happiness, has been shocking. I realize that we'll have a busy Fall hurrying up an already rushed list of new projects that a couple of young and free spirited, bohemian thirty-somethings thought they'd finish at their leisure.
Oh dear what were we thinking?
Let me define everything: televisions, cupboards, the dishwasher, the bathroom toilet seat, electric cords, outlets, plugs, muck in the corners, dust, cat food bowl, the wine fridge, the crystal glassware, the mirrored wall, the litterbox, under the bed, the laundry basket and the sewing box . . .for starters. And this is only when I've turned my back to answer the phone or god forbid, take a bite of food.
Yes you can put the little tyke in a playpen which we sometimes do, but he howls like a banshee "llleeeemmmmmmeeeeeee- ouuuuuuuuuutttttttttt," until there is no sane option left but to plop him on the floor and follow him with watchful, hawk mother eyes. Watchful eyes get very tired. Watchful eyes get very lazy.
I think Seb will see that when we go home we have some work to do. I think it may be more work than we have the energy to do and this is frightening. If my parent's house is hard to babyproof than ours will be impossible. We have so many more hazards at home than we have here at their plushly carpeted Florida ranch. Our house is a haven for stray nails and screws, constant dust, drippy leaks and shaky, sharp stairs, grimy splinters and greasy radiator pipes. The list is just overwhelming. I don't know how we'll rewire the lower floor so that we can eliminate the extension cord mess, replace the living room's now grungy carpet, smooth the stucco we started but changed our minds on, secure the balconies, and block off the thousands of pitfalls he could potentially encounter. How?
Starting renovations we were childless at first and then I became pregnant after the first year. The pregnancy in itself was an eye opener about what kind of home we were bringing this baby into. Bringing the baby home was another eye opener. Suddenly a little bit more aware, we quickly scrambled to fine tune the older projects and warp speed some others. But now here we are at a point where nothing could have prepared us. This last week where the awkward, wobbly baby has suddenly become a person exploring his world, completely depending on us for his safety and happiness, has been shocking. I realize that we'll have a busy Fall hurrying up an already rushed list of new projects that a couple of young and free spirited, bohemian thirty-somethings thought they'd finish at their leisure.
Oh dear what were we thinking?
posted by christine at 7:53 PM
1 Comments:
Renos with children can be challenging. You have to have more of an eye for safety. We've been tackling our house one room at a time. We're building a suite in the basement, so we'll have no problem when it comes to the bathroom and kitchen upstairs.
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