Fall of the Baby Prison!

Kinda creepy, right?

One kibble for you, one kibble for me!

swinging times

Everyone up the rope ladder!

toddler push ups?

Fall of the baby prison!

My living room has gone through many many changes in the last two and a half years, mostly because we have a small house. We don't have a play room or space for one so the living room has taken that role. The first stage was 'baby carnival,' our living room looked like one with swings, jumpy chairs, bumbo's and the like covering every square inch. Once babies began to crawl we brought out the superyard/fence and created the 'baby prison' stage, yes we caged the babies up but it was for their safety. Once they began to walk the space was simply too small so we opened up most of the living room and used the superyard to keep the boys safe from the fireplace and to protect the laptop, lamp, tv as well as to store toys so the boys didn't dump everything out at once and create monumental messes (helpful for toy rotation too!). We also put up a gate so the boys couldn't go into the kitchen and the rest of the house, thus creating the 'modified baby prison.' It really wasn't much of a prison since they had the living room, dining room and their bedroom to play in but it did keep them out of the kitchen, our bedroom, the bathroom and the basement.

It was long over due since the boys are fairly well behaved now and will listen when we tell them to stop messing with something (they do have their moments of course and must always be supervised). Since potty training began we haven't even been closing the gate that keeps the boys from the kitchen and the rest of the house because the boys need to be able to go to the bathroom (but more because I don't want to open and close that thing 300 times a day). So on a whim we decided to take down the superyard and see what happens. Of course within minutes EVERYTHING was dumped on the ground. The solution was simple, so I don't think we need the superyard any more! Bye bye for good baby prison : )

Baby carnival stage, 0-8mo

baby prison stage, 9-13mo

modified baby prison stage, in case you forgot what my living room, up till recently, looked like. 13mo-2.5yrs 

post taking down the fence, monumental mess.
Its a good thing I thought to at least hide the legos!

My simple solution, cornered the couch, plenty of toy storage behind the couch now!
They can still get to stuff but at least it slows them down!

Our house is starting to look more like a house and not a daycare!