Stair Master

While we were visiting Joe & Cate, their friends Craig and Amy stopped by with their two kids. Craig and Amy are both pediatricians, so we were a little curious what their take would be on Owen. Craig observed him for a few minutes, asked a couple of questions and then promptly told us we were screwed.

Craig’s prognosis stems from the fact that we can no longer place Owen in one spot and expect him to still be there five seconds later. We understood that Owen’s new found ability to pull himself up would complicate matters further, but felt that Craig’s alarmist tone was a bit extreme and probably more due to his sulking over a home improvement project gone horribly awry than any real peril we were facing.

But then we got home, and decided that after being cooped up in an airplane all day, we should let Owen crawl around a bit before bed. At first he just meandered around the living room. Then he decided to explore the dining room, but turned back before noticing the bookshelves with their many breakable knickknacks. He was almost back to his play area when he turned again, this time heading to the staircase.

Now we’ve known for a while that we need to get gates for the staircase (as well as the kitchen and his room), but the design of our stairwells don’t easily lend themselves to gates (particularly at the top), making the task a huge pain. So we’ve been putting it off.

We watched with trepidation as Owen approached the first stair, held our breath while he banged on it and quickly swooped down and grabbed him as he pulled himself up and started banging on stair number two.

Gates will be installed this weekend (because nothing says, “Happy Easter” like baby-proofing ones house). Meanwhile Owen is no longer allowed to be anywhere unattended for any amount of time, which means (among other things) that Allen and I either have to have company or hold it until the other is available in order to use the facilities at home.

Which is why, as Craig would say, we’re screwed.