We have a nice gate that blocks our family room and play room off from the rest of the house. Those two rooms are relatively toddler-proof, so I can leave the girls in there for short periods when I need to get things done. Like cleaning, cooking, going to the bathroom by myself, etc. I can hear the girls and see them pretty well, so keeping an eye on them is no problem.
I’m quite dependent on my baby gate. I need my baby gate.
Several months ago I broke the gate when I hit the locking mechanism in just the wrong way with a heavy laundry basket. It was still functional, just not quite as secure when latched. Miss could open it, which is good, but the other two couldn’t.
Until…
Someone figured out that if she pushed on the gate in just the right way, a whole new world would open up to her.
The first few times she did it, she’d stop after the gate popped open, look at me, and start clapping and yelling, “Yay!” Needless to say, I did not respond in kind. So she stopped doing that. But she didn’t stop opening the gate.
It got to the point that I couldn’t get her to stay behind the gate at all, for any period of time, ever. I’d take her in the play room and get her playing, but as soon as I went through the gate to try to get something done, she’d run up, stand at the gate, and start yelling at me. I think she was giving me a chance to open the gate for her, while I was hoping that just maybe she had forgotten how. As in, maybe this time she won’t be able to. But she always did.
So I had to come up with a solution.
Hair knobbers. They worked for a day or two, but weren’t really a good long-term fix. I had to order a new gate. Naturally I went to Amazon for fast service. I was able to order just the middle piece of the same gate and get it in two days. It fit nicely with our extensions, and we are back in business. At least I am.
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