Organically Growing

We moved into our new house about 2 weeks ago and we are slowly starting to get things up on the walls, out of boxes and onto our shelves. Feeling particularly motivated one evening, Marc arranged several of his favorite framed photos with artifacts from the same region. For example, a photo from Thailand was sitting with this beautiful cork sculpture from Japan. 4 of the top bookshelves were expertly arranged and it looked amazing!

The next morning, in a frenzy to clean up catalogs and other work-miscellanea before leaving on a trip, Marc stacked a heavy pile of paper on the bottom shelf, which sent the whole thing off balance and a whole-lotta glass crashing down on the hardwood floor. Cork sculpture was trashed, but fortunately nothing (and no one) was harmed otherwise.

The biggest heartbreak was the realization that Ryder could have very easily been the weight that caused the shelf to tip and been right in the middle of all that broken glass. The thought of it makes me shivver! We were both feeling incredibly guilty for being such fools!

The good thing is that it was a reminder that we need to start thinking about baby proofing things – and not just how they look anymore. And no one had to lose an eye for us to learn our lesson!

your little guy gets his fingers into everything!

Ryder discovered the springy doorstop. He’s thrilled at the noise it makes when he flicks it. He turns at looks at me with a look of such accomplishment. I realized this was an issue when he pulled off the throat-size cap and held it up for me to see.

I always thought it was a freakish paranoia that had people putting those plug in the electric outlets. Really, kids put their fingers in there? Ryder is motoring all around the house and is experiencing a magnetic-like draw to everything that has a cord or a plug. He likes to suck on the cords. And of course, his fingers always find their way to the outlets.

Yesterday eKo ran down the stairs and Ryder crawled right up to the top step and peered down (I was standing right above him), as if he was debating on whether or not to go for it. Using his better judgement, he turned around and headed toward the recycling bin.

A friend of mind told me how they weren’t going to go crazy with the babyproofing, because, afterall – when you remove all the proofing, don’t you still have to mind your children to let them know about the hazards? Instead, they are subscribing to removing the major dangers, but then doing what good parents do anyway – keep an eye on their kids. This way you can teach your baby as you go along. I like that idea.

Ryder already responds to the word, “no.” He obviously knows what it means … even if he doesn’t always listen. The most adorable thing is when he’s getting into something and I look him straight in the eye and say (in my gentle, serious tone), “Ryder. No.” He looks at me with his sweet big eyes, tips his head to the side (is that smirk on his face?) and promptly goes back to whatever he was getting into. After three or four rounds of this, he will either give up and move on to greener mischief or I’ll pick him up and move him to another room.