What Happens When I Turn My Back

Tonight began round two of baby-proofing our apt. Round 1 started a few months ago and consisted of putting locks on all the lower cupboards that had our breakable glass dishware and cleaning chemicals. I thought those were annoying to put on - I had no idea. We just spent 2 hours taking off doorknobs to replace them with baby-proofed handles to keep Eli out of his new favorite areas - the laundry room where we keep our garbage can (if I don't watch carefully, I find him covered in our trash), the hall closet (Eli loves it because all of Isaac's tools are in there. We've discovered that scorpions also love it, because all of the scorpions we have found have either been in the closet, or right outside of the closet). We've also are installing a toilet locks, since he thinks the toilet bowl is his own personal baby pond, and locks on the kitchen drawers, since he can now pull them open, reach inside and find all sorts of surprises - such as my scissors and kitchen knifes.

Now whenever I write an entry like this, all my friends with kids leave all-knowing comments, like "you just wait" and "you ain't seen nothing yet". If only there existed a large protective hamster ball I could put him and just let him roll around all day.

The best is turning around and never knowing where I will find him - sitting on the kitchen table, on the couch trying to pull off our wall painting or standing in the dishwasher. My mom said said my sister and I never did such things. My mother-in-law says that if he's anything like Isaac, it's only getting a lot worse.

With our new baby-proffed locks I'm worried about having even less rooms for Eli to play in. Seriously, having him and I confined to our small apt all day is starting to get to us both. What I wouldn't give for a yard for him to play in (and some weather that allowed us to actually go out into the yard). I feel like I am getting cabin fever like Jack Nickelson in The Shining. If I start typing "all work and no play makes Jill a dull girl", you should be worried.