baby proofing phase 1

Aiden's been into floor time lately. His tummy time has evolved into dry land swim lessons or superman imitations. He will lunge forward from sitting, sometimes with his feet and hands on the ground. We see the beginnings of a creepy crawly mode. He can push off from your hands or rock towards a toy, but there hasn't been any official crawling. We did decide that we should be prepared though, because once this kids can do something he seems to like to do it all the time. So, our not-so-baby proof living room full of my vintage cameras and these wobbly shelves that never really stayed upright on the carpet needs to change. I cleared the shelves and made room for the cameras in other rooms (which look good above the hearth in the barn room - thanks to my mom's idea). The shelves are now relegated to the basement and the new blank wall now houses some vintage camera "artwork" which is a photoshopped photo I took of one of the oldest brownie cameras.

The next step was figuring out how we will corral him away from the fireplace hearth and the tv cabinet. I read around for advice and my favorite idea was using one of these gate yards to enclose the area around the couch. That way it's like a corral where the baby feels included in the parent zone and they can cruise and pull up on the edge of the couch. It can also be a toy zone to keep all of the fun stuff in one place. I wanted to cover the carpet even though it's really clean, but everytime I put down a blanket Aiden concentrates on eating it. So my solution was these big smooshy interlocking tiles that Aiden now thinks are so cool. He rubs his toys back and forth over their textured surface and whaps at it with his hand. The boppy has now officially become Aiden's lounger instead of a nursing pillow. We don't need the play yard set up yet, but I did find a nice gate that fit perfectly around the couch area for when we are ready.