So Much for My Career as a Babyproofer

Six years ago I was very attentive when it came to things like child locks and outlet covers. Our drawers all had special locks, the TV cabinet had a special lock. Our house was safe.
Holden loved the TV lock. He called it " Fies" for some reason. He slept with Fies. Fies was his friend. Holden knew he was never to touch an outlet. Holden knew knives were sharp.

Then we had Oliver. Oliver is another story. He always has been. Oliver was one tough cookie. Oliver was strong. He could break open locks. But we still attempted to keep things hidden and locked away.

Along came the twins. I guess somewhere between Oliver and the twins we kind of gave up. We don't have working child locks. Sure we have the child locks installed. But they don't work properly anymore. Of course we have outlet covers. Oliver knows how to work all of them.

A few weeks ago Jeff was grilling a steak. He came in to get something. When he went back out there was Oliver, basting the steak. Oliver told Jeff " Its hot". Yes, it is. I'm glad he understands that. However, most kids learn its hot and figure they shouldn't touch it. Oliver learns its hot and is careful. Scary.

We have a locked cabinet in the bathroom which houses all medications. The thermometer is in there too. We have to get the key and unlock it every time someone feels a bit warm. Its a pain, of course, but we are pretty careful about that sort of thing.

For some reason I didn't put the children's vitamins in the cabinet. I kept them on a shelf, a high shelf, in a kitchen cabinet.

I didn't used to give them vitamins. My pediatrician had never mentioned it. My kids eat fairly well. But I was at Whole Foods and there is the vitamin aisle I spied Multisaurus dino vitamins. Well, that should appeal to everyone. I checked the ingredients. Seems OK, not that I'm an expert by any means, but the iron content seemed low and I know that overdosing on Iron is the concern with children's vitamins. So I picked some up. Everyone started getting one dinosaur every morning with breakfast.

Well, they loved them. Of course they loved them, they taste like Pixie Stix in solid form. They would beg for more. The answer was always no. One. Everyone gets one. Even if you get a stegosaurus and you really wanted a T Rex, you only get one.

Until the day that Oliver decided to climb up and get the entire bottle down. He was very nice and shared them with Laurel.

And we called poison control.

Fortunately Multisaurus vitamins are OK because of the very low dose of Iron ( 2 mg). Apparently a lot of people have Flinstone vitamins and those have 16 mg of iron. No vitamins for the kids for a week, and we need to give them lots of water. They were fine, but I threw away the vitamins.


I have the Halloween decorations out. We have several of the LeMax moving, lighted decorations. Witches that fly around a spooky tree, witches that circle around a cauldron. Oliver loves Halloween. He loves pumpkins. He loves watching the little witches circle around. So he plugs them in. He knows exactly how to work all the child outlet locks. So he does it himself. At first I tried to stop this. I don't want a 5 year old touching outlets. But unless I want to hire someone to sit next to the outlet I can't really stay on top of it. Whenever I walk into the room the decorations are moving. Again. I don't know what the going rate is for Outlet Supervisor, but I'm sure its not in the budget.

At least he is self sufficient.