Innumerable small and large changes mark the girls’ transitions away from being babies and toddlers and toward being kids – a term they both, interestingly, embrace. Lots of these changes are fairly public: going to preschool and kindergarten, potty training, learning to write and to read. Other changes are more private, but still pretty obvious, especially within the family: the decay of the napping schedule, their ability to play by themselves for increasingly long periods of time, an interest in certain kinds of new challenges.
And then there is a third set of changes, shifts that are subtle and individually trivial, but cumulatively transformative. The best and most current example of this kind of change is the ongoing reversal of all the babyproofing that we did years ago and the creation of a house that’s again suited for adults. It’s already been years since we removed the ugly foam pads from the sharp corners of various pieces of furniture, of course, but it’s only in the last few months that we’ve tossed out most of those annoying and stupid cabinet-door locks that the girls have been able to defeat for months. I tell you what, it’s wonderful to just be able to open the damn cabinet under the kitchen sink when we want to throw something in the trash – rather than using one hand to awkwardly jiggle the lock open without dropping the trash in the other hand. It’s a tiny thing, but wonderful in its own tiny way.
Now, if only we can take all the finger-killing plastic guards out of the electrical outlets and take down the gate at the top of the steps! I have no idea if the former is necessary anymore, since neither of my girls have ever shown any interest in jamming things into the sockets, but the latter still is – when Shannon wants to keep the girls from coming downstairs. I only hope we can take it down before on of the girls accidentally rips it out of the wall by crashing into it…
I am SO glad you posted this! It resonates so strongly for my business partner and I – we just started a company that designs and produces functional and stylish baby-proofing products for exactly the reasons you so eloquently talk about in your post.
Oh, we totally don’t need the baby gate anymore. It’s just useful for occasional visits from family friends who have children younger than ours, and because when they’re upstairs playing with Daddy after bath and I want to do a workout DVD without being interrupted ten times, I can lock it and keep them fenced on the 2nd floor.
Good riddance to the cupboard locks. They have defeated Nonna for five years!
It is liberating – I recall getting rid of all that too. The biggest change was when the booster seat finally left the car, and all three girls could buckle themselves in.
I remember being 7 or 8 years old and taking those socket thingies out so I could plug something in. I never understood why my parents insisted on having them since I was the youngest kid in the house and clearly I could take them out.