One of the exciting events of this month was being able to take down the baby gate that has guarded the kitchen since Little Biscuit's birth. Now that he's just a few months shy of two, we figured he was old enough to learn to stay away from off-limits items without baby proofing every cabinet, appliance, and door. We put happy face stickers on kitchen areas he can play in (like the now you see it, now you don't pull-out train track and toy car drawer above); we put "no" symbol stickers on drawers and places we don't want him to touch. Overall he's done a really good job following the rules...with a few slip-ups of course!
Even though he sometimes makes a mess in the floor around his play drawer, I prefer frequent clean-ups to the previous dilemma - which was frequently listening to him yell because he wanted over the gate and I wouldn't let him in. It's nice to be able to pick it up and just close the drawer when he's done. And it doesn't hurt that overall it's been a lot quieter around here lately...
...unless you count the rattle of trains and hot wheels speeding down the track ;)
Then, when the kitchen work is done, it's time for laundry...so we found a fun "secret speedway" for that too ;) Just flipped over the empty basket and voila! Gentlemen, start your engines!It's great to find these kinds of hidden play spaces all around the house! Makes the toys seem almost invisible ;) I just hope he doesn't get so into discovering the possibilities that he uses the toilet rim as the location for his next matchbox race! That might not be so easy to clean up ;)