As much as I love watching home decor shows and reading home decor magazines, I think I may have to just accept the fact that we’ll never have a really nice house as long as we have small kids. Some people I know manage to do it, but I just can’t figure out how. Our latest “home improvement” project was tying our dining room chairs to the table legs so that Tage can’t drag them around and use them to crawl up on the counters. It’s a nice touch to go along with the cabinet doors and drawers we’ve tied together with the nylon granny panties I got at the hospital after Tage was born, and the hair scrunchies looped around closet-door knobs to keep them together. We’re taking interior design to whole new levels around here.
I think the age gap between my two kids was just long enough that I had forgotten how hard toddlers can be (although it sure seems to me that Tage is much, much more work than Lydia ever was). Part of me wants to hurry up and have the rest of our kids while I’m still in baby mode, before I have the chance to get out of practice again. On the other hand, I could really use a break . . .
As far as the house goes, if it’s not the kids making it a disaster area, it’s the dogs. I swear, when I think of the copious amounts of dog hair I vacuum up every single day I can hardly believe that Mette has any hair left on her body. If I took her fur out of the vacuum cleaner bags, I could easily make a life-size replica of her every week. I just thank the powers that be that Asbjørn isn’t much of a shedder; otherwise we’d drown in a sea of dog hair.
As much as I hate those little balls of hair lurking in every corner, I really can’t blame Mette for that mess, since she can’t help shedding. Asbjørn, on the other had, could help chewing on the coffee table, the baby gate, the shoe rack, the banister in the stairway, and any other wooden object in his reach. I have tried just about everything I can think of to make him stop, but it’s like some sort of compulsion for him. I’m thinking of trying a taser gun next.
My dog chews when stressed. Her favourite thing is anything with webbing – straps on backpacks & strollers and car seatbelts (those things are damn $$$). I have to put her in a kennel/crate when I leave her at home alone. And she still destroys whatever is inside. You could try putting tobasco sauce or chili powder on stuff to make it unpalatable to your dog. I’m not sure if this will help, though.
I didn’t baby proof my house with our daughter. The only things we did were to block off the outlets and close the bathroom door. With our son I’m constantly locking up things and yelling at him to get out of that and off that. Sigh, boys!
I know exactly what you mean about little boys! You know, I never would have believed they could be so different until I had one of my own!
Good idea about the tobasco sauce — maybe I’ll give that a try, since nothing else seems to deter him!