According to all the guidebooks, you are supposed to baby-proof your house by the time your child is nine months old. This includes but is not necessarily limited to the following: installing cabinet locks, covering electrical outlets, installing baby gates by stairs, and lowering the crib mattress.
I dutifully complied with the first three instructions, only to (true story!) trip over and break two out of three baby gates before Simon was mobile enough to need them. In hindsight, I think I put a jinx on his gross motor development by getting ahead of myself. The baby gate at the top of the stairs is up. The gates at the bottom are awaiting Simon’s ability to walk.
For a variety of reasons, Matt and I delayed lowering the crib mattress. Every now and again I’d bring it up, and Matt would remind me that Simon wasn’t able to get from lying down to sitting yet (sigh), and therefore did not require a low mattress. Plus, my arms are kind of short, so he worried it would make it harder for me to put Simon down. Plus, both of us are mechanically inept, and we almost died and/or killed each other assembling the crib in the first place. Plus we weren’t sure where the instructions are. Plus we are both first class procrastinators.
Then yesterday Simon woke up from his afternoon nap a bit earlier than expected. I decided to let him cry for a few minutes, thinking he might go back to sleep. He didn’t, and when the crying began to escalate I went upstairs to greet him. You can imagine my surprise when I opened the door and saw Simon, standing in his crib, greeting me.
Whoa baby-this is new! That made it clear that kiddo could not go back in the crib until we lowered the mattress. This time the universe was kind to us: I found instructions online, we both understood the instructions, and we had all the required tools for the job. Within thirty minutes, Simon’s crib was newly adjusted to prevent him from jumping overboard.
So kudos to Simon for hitting a new milestone! And kudos to us for not being totally inept with baby equipment!