Child-proofing

In order to pass a home inspection at the end of June, Blaine and I must child-proof our house. So, back in November we had a pool fence installed. At first I was sad because it mildly obstructed the view of the pool, but now that summer is here it keeps our dogs from going in every chance they get. It's nice to monitor when they go swimming and reduce the wet dog paws in our house.

Last week I installed smoke detectors in all the rooms (yep, I'm pretty handy, eh?). A fire extinguisher is in the kitchen. This week we have Blaine's brother visiting. He adopted a little girl almost 5 years ago and so had practice installing magnetic key locks on the cupboards. Guess what I've asked him to do? After feeling confident in myself for putting up the smoke alarms, I opened the box to the magnetic cupboard locks. I promptly put it away. Too many screws, a step that involved a drill, measuring...and this is something that if you mess up you leave holes in your house. So, once my brother-in-law fixes the cupboard locks, we should be pretty set with child-proofing (I even have outlet covers). What's funny is we have to prepare for a child of any age between birth-3. Cupboard locks aren't needed until they are mobile, which could be a few years. So, we'll get to use a lovely magnetic key every time we want to open our cupboard under the sink even before we have any kids in the house. Oh well, it'll be worth it.

Our house has always been pretty child safe - until a couple weeks ago. We don't have many things laying around (ceramics, frames, etc) and our tables have rounded edges. There really wasn't anything in our house that we cared enough for that, if broken, would have made us upset. And then we got a hutch. And filled it with my great-grandmother's dishes and goblets. Now there is something to worry about. Now when Cash goes crazy and chases his tail like a mad-dog, I watch out for the hutch.