Yes, that would be my toddler in the smallest kitchen cupboard we have..obviously.
Baby Gates
Probably the most obvious one, perfect for keeping them out of certain rooms and venturing up the stairs... you will probably need one for the bottom of the stairs, top and maybe for the kitchen too, Abbie loves being in the kitchen and helping me cook so I don't mind too much, but when it comes to doing the washing up and tidying, she tends to hang on to my legs and gets in the way...why not give them some saucepans and bits to keep them occupied whilst you get the kitchen sorted?
Flooring
I know this is rather random, it's not something we ever thought about, that was until Abbie learnt to draw on the floors & walls..and although it might seem drastic to completely change your flooring, its definitely worth thinking about in the long run, especially if you have a light coloured carpet such as beige or cream, imagine the amount of stains you could end up getting, from baby sick to food stains and paint splashes to muddy footprints! You could save yourself a lot of hassle and also money by just easily brushing mess up and having a little mop or wipe down! Whereas with carpets you will end up with permanent marks which will still be visible after a few years too!
One of her pieces of "artwork" on our fireplace..
Take it from someone with a toddler, Abbie's new obsession is drawing, and very recently found out that the walls and floor are super fun to color in! Luckily for us we have oak laminate flooring in the living room and kitchen so we can easily wipe everything off and make it look as good as new, however, upstairs is a different story..we have a very light beige carpet in our room, and after having a few drink spillages here and there, a few bottles of baby shampoo knocked over and lots of black fluff from new towels stuck to each little crevice, it's safe to say its looking a little, well, "used"..it's now more of a dull gray color than the bright beige it used to be! I know, babies will be babies and this kinda stuff does happen, it's just the normality of home life, but if i could take the pick, I'd definitely choose to have wood flooring throughout the house, merely for the convenience but also because it looks so much nicer too! No wasting money on carpet cleaners either!Socket covers
This is probably my worst fear as a parent, having Abbie put her fingers in an open socket...ahhh! Luckily there is an affordable way to prevent such things happening, they are literally little plastic plugs that cover the socket, preventing them from being touched and also they are made specially so that little fingers can't take them out too, perfect! Abbie recently went through a stage of pressing the on/off switches on the plugs which scared me too death, we tried teaching her 'no' but she didn't seem to understand........selective hearing I think! We got ours from Homebase for something silly like £1.99, so nice and cheap too :)
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