Coincidentally on Sunday, mother´s day in the US, I was able to Skype with my parents via their TV! I know that for everyone that is not news, but for me and my parents it was an "ooohhhh" and "aaahhhh" moment. My sister is the technologically savvy one in the family and she´s the one who set it up for them and Sunday was our test run. My dad was ecstatic to be able to see Hannah so clearly and on his TV screen, it made our video chat that much more personal and intimate. Skype is the only way we have to "be together" as a family, so the closer to actually being there in person we can make our chat experience, the better and more special. Our topic of conversation? Hannah´s safety of course! My dad is the controlling mother-in-law in my life since my actual mother-in-law is the sweetest, kindest, and gentlest person I think I have ever met in my whole life. I shared how my baby was starting to make more of an effort at crawling and using her "araña" (baby walker) and my father pointed out that this was the perfect time to baby-proof my home.
He reminded me how, when I was a baby, he would constantly crawl all over the house seeing what was at hand and eye level to remove any threats to my safety and how even with all of the baby proofing, I would still manage to escape my crib and walk around in the dark at all hours of the night by age 1 and eat away at the dirt and leaves of our house plants. Hmmm... yeah, let´s just say I conveniently forgot what a very resourceful and curious baby I was so I could get away with saying "I can´t believe how SHUTE Hannah is!" I must admit I´m a little scared of what´s to come and saying good-bye to the good ol´days of leaving Hannah in a sitting or lying position while I took quick potty or water breaks knowing she wasn´t going anywhere. Why? Because yesterday was her let´s-try-this-new-skill-out day and what did she do? Did she use her new found ability for good? No! She used it to get to the curtains in our study/playroom, pull down on them with enough force to make me worry she would actually yank the rod loose and then, when that grew boring, to move them to one side so she could see out the window and spy on the neighbors moving into the house across from us! Not to mention that today, on her first official day as a crawler I have had to physically return her to her play area 4 times while writing this blog... apparently now that she can crawl, her play area is no longer entertaining enough for her. Here we go!
I guess I am going to have to take my father´s advice and do some baby proofing this weekend. Of course, not to the extent he would consider appropriate, his first firm suggestion in calm and matter-of-fact Spanish: "it´s very simple, go buy a door, take it to a hardware store... they have a hardware store there don´t they?... ask them to saw it in half, sand away the rough parts, and attach hinges and a door pin... but make sure they do it on the side of the door that will face the stairs otherwise the girl will eventually learn how to open it... take it home and have your husband install it firmly on the wall by the staircase"... yes daddy... that sounds soooo simple, why didn´t I think of that! What I really answered was "daddy, wouldn´t it be easier to just buy a baby gate?", to which he quickly and sternly replied "of course not, those things are unsafe!" Ummmm... okay seriously, I couldn´t make these things up if I wanted to. So anyway, I will be baby proofing my house enough to make sure Hannah´s new adventures around the house don´t end in bad accidents. Does that include a sawed-in-half door... let´s just say I´ll think about it ;)
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