Evolution of Parenting

1996
Ben is born. Our firstborn. Oh how we doted. The world revolved around him. We didn't mind chasing after him around the house once he was crawling and walking. What else was there to do?

1998
Nick is born. Our second beautiful boy and joy of our lives. Once crawling we didn't mind chasing him, yet those baby gates that all of our friends with babies were using (the same friends who wondered why we didn't use them for Ben) seemed like a great idea. Perfect. We contained him to the living room when needed.

2000
Jack is born. An early and scary beginning, but all is well now. Once crawling we didn't mind chasing him. Yet, in our newer and bigger house, that fancy eight-sided fence thing at Babies R Us seemed like a great idea. Perfect. We contained him to his baby-proof area in the living room when needed. We called it his cage.

2005
Wes is born. Our beautiful and wonderful surprise. As a baby, we used the cage to contain him. Now that he's a toddler and escaping out of the house (really, who can blame him, we FINALLY have nice weather and our trampoline is up!), our strategies have become more serious. Last weekend Scott installed hook and eye locks up high on both the sliders. And, he put door knob covers on the doors. However, it took Wes a day to figure out the door knob covers (I'll be on a mission to find better ones tomorrow) and I'm counting the days until he realizes he can push a chair over to undo the slider locks.