I just found out that the Baby Einstein soft blocks we own are among the many toys that have been recently been recalled due to lead paint. Great.

All of this Made-in-China toy scare hoopla makes me want to toss all of Scouts toys in the trash and start fresh with safe, non-toxic, Made-in-the-USA toys, preferably made from natural materials.

Oh wait. We can't do that because we're not rich.

One of Scout's favorite toys is a soft plasticky book called "Mimi's Toes" (also a Baby Einstein product). It smells very strongly like a pool raft - ya know, that weird chemically rubbery smell? I turned it over to see what it is made of and it is PVC. I thought I remembered reading somewhere that PVC is not safe for children's toys, so I tried to look up some info on it.
From the many articles I read, I can see that there are 2 different camps: people who think PVC is the devil and say it is a very hazardous material that should not be used for toys..... and then those who think that PVC is perfectly safe. I don't know who to believe. One of the articles I read states that the strong pool raft smell that many PVC items give off is actually the pthalates (plasticizers that make the PVC pliable) off-gassing.

I know that I can't hide my little girl from all plastics and PVC items for the rest of her life, but I'd really rather not have my baby ravenously gnawing on a hunk of mildly toxic "out-gassing" material.

I wonder if I can convince my parents and DH's parents that they should buy Scout some expensive Made-in-America wooden and cloth toys form now on . Ha. Yeah.

ETA: Just so you know, DH and I aren't the ones who have bought Scout all of this plastic Baby Einstein crap. We just received a lot of toys as gifts at her baby shower.

Labels: baby-proofing, general complaining, safety

Scout is not mobile yet, but DH and I have been thinking more and more about ways we can baby-proof our house. But I'm not really sure HOW baby-proof to make our home. My mom said that she never put things of value out of reach and refused to rearrange the whole house for us kids because she believed in TEACHING US what things we could and could not touch. She told me that one of the worst things a parent can do is make a house completely baby-friendly because the child will never learn that there are certain things they should not play with. In which case, everything is fair game in the child's home environment, but if they visit another home, everything is NOT fair game and they can't understand that. The child will then go about, tearing everything up because they don't understand that certain things are off-limits. That seems logical to me.

BUT I want my house to be safe.....and I admit that I'd rather not have to follow an inch behind my toddling little girl 24 hours a day, redirecting her every move as she gets close to things that are a "no-no". Is that a lazy attitude on my part?

Here is my idea: There is a room between our kitchen and entryway that used to be our dining room. We've actually been using it as a second living room, since we have a kitchen table and having a dining room seemed like a waste of space. I would like to put swinging baby gates at each doorway and make that room a child-safe play area for Scout. It would be perfect because it is a centrally located room: I could keep an eye on her while I am cooking and I could also see her from my bedroom door if I'm folding laundry, making the bed, etc. I would also like to be able to sit at my computer and watch her while she plays (I'm planning on selling records on eBay once again), so I moved my computer desk into that 'play' room. There are no cords dangling from my computer desk - just one big fat cord plugged into the wall that leads to the surge-protector/power strip on top of my desk. I'd like to find a way to make that one cord and outlet completely off limits, so there is really nothing dangerous at all in the play room.

Sort of off-topic, but I am in the process of removing all harsh chemical household cleaners from my house and replacing them with natural cleaning supplies like baking soda and vinegar. It's not so much that I'm worried about Scout getting her hands on a bottle of cleaner (I could always move them all to a high shelf), but I suddenly don't like the idea of spraying weird chemicals in our house. I guess having a set of new tiny lungs around has just made me more aware of things like that. There was a point about 4 years ago that we had no chemical cleansers in our home.....I'm not sure how I slowly got away from that.

The room we call "the media room" (where my computer used to be) is certainly not a safe place for a child to play. DH is a computer technician, so there are usually 5 or 6 dismantled computers sprawled out in there at any given time. The other half of that room contains musical instruments and a few pieces of furniture to sit and watch t.v. or play video games on the big projector screen. (we're really not all that fancy....it's a huge ugly projector from the 80's that was given to us for free!:)

I'm sure there are things in our bedroom that aren't entirely child-safe. There's a clothing rack that could probably be knocked over if tugged on just right. I guess that's all. We just recently acquired a king size mattress and put it on the floor in there, so now we have this big cozy family bed and Scout won't get injured if she rolls off.

There are all sorts of things in the entryway a baby shouldn't play with: a big shelf filled with vinyl record albums, a wobbly book case, a low table with sharp corners that has a lamp and a house plant on it. Of course, the laundry room is no place for a child to play. One tug on the cord attached to the iron, and down it goes. And then there's that giant bucket of detergent sitting on the floor. I can close the laundry room door, no problem....and the bathroom door as well. The kitchen has a tall metal shelf with a HEAVY microwave on top. I will probably see if DH could anchor that to a stud in the wall or something. I plan on getting outlet covers for all the rooms and some locks for the few cupboards that contain things babies shouldn't handle.

So, I guess my plan is to have that one special room where I don't have to keep an eagle-eye on Scout....where I can pretty much relax and know that she is not getting into anything while playing in there, as long as I can poke my head in to check on things frequently. And then the rest of the house will be minimally baby-proofed in comparison.

Does this sound like a decent plan? What are your thoughts on baby-proofing? How has your particular set-up worked for you and why? Does it sound like I'm doing too much or not enough to prepare for her toddlerhood?

Labels: baby-proofing