Blockade!

I try to give Jaden the safest, largest run of the house area. With the doors closed, the stairs and kitchen blocked off, he has the entire front room and hall to explore and play in. There is one unprotected place he is not allowed, but the computer.

Yet, This is where he wants to be. I can't blame him really, he comes over here because this is where I am and then he sees all the fun cords he can grab and put in his mouth. Ooo fun! I smack his hand and tell him "no!" then move him away again, but then his happy go lucky exploring mood is spoiled and he comes right back over to the cords crying the whole time.

I needed a better system. So I set up his car seat as a blockade. This worked for a bit, then he figured out he could crawl under the swing and get to me that way. I tried to deter him from this route, but then he figured out how to stand and with that abilitiy could essentially climb and crawl over the seat.

So yesterday I got a blanket and rigged it up blocking my little area at the computer. This worked for awhile. He was very distraught to find that even his no fail route under the swing was blocked, but then he realized if he stood up by the couch he could reach over and pull the whole thing down. You would think I could out engineer a 7 1/2 month old. But in my defense his learning curve is much higher than mine. So this morning I wracked my brain trying to figure out a way to safely keep him away from the computer but I kept coming up empty handed.

Today I got out the port-a-crib for him to play in while I showered. I don't want him to play in it all the time. I think the little guy has a right to explore the house as long as it's safe, so I put him back on the floor and to the computer he went. Out of sheer frustration I pulled the port-a-crib over and used it as blockade with the blanket still blocking the under swing area. Success! At least thus far. He tries, then cries for a bit then plays for a bit then tries again and so on and so forth. It's easier than pulling him away every few seconds. So now I have a giganormous eye sore of a blockade that Ryan is not going to be impressed with as it takes up half our living room and you have to jump the couch to to get the computer, but I win this time! Jaden 106 Me 1 Yay!