cheap home fixes

Lately Etta has decided that she enjoys shutting herself into rooms. In the past she would occasionally shut herself in by accident. This did not usually bother her at first, even if the room was dark actually, but then she would let me know when she wanted the door opened again. She has gotten really good at going up & down stairs (on her hands & knees still) so the last few weeks when I head back upstairs after doing a load of laundry, I just let her & Addie know that I am heading up and I go without them. Addie had been coming right away, but sometimes Etta lingers on the stairs. She has learned, though, that when she gets up she needs to close the door. So I think closing doors may have generalized from this. I would not mind her closing bedroom doors if she knew how to open them and if I could be confident she was not doing dangerous things or creating a disastrous mess. But I decided that we needed a new house rule: bedroom doors stay open unless it is naptime, night time, or someone is in a time-out. My free, simple, non-permanent, non-elegant solution was to stick socks or slippers up high between the door and doorjam. The door may close part of the way, but not all the way. This is easy enough that Addie can put them in by herself if I forget. [Side note: Addie is a very good enforcer of rules. Bordering on bossy. Loves to tell her sister "no" and report back to me on what Etta is doing (example: "Etta is crying really hard" and I think sarcastically to myself "oh really? I could not hear her!")] So anyways the sock-in-the-door system is working great. At least for Addie and I. The first time Etta attempted to close a door but was thwarted, she screamed so loud I thought she had truly hurt herself. Now I am familiar enough with the scream of frustration that I can partially ignore it. But she does get really ticked at those doors. I am not convinced that I made a good parenting decision. Maybe I just reacted out of laziness because I did not want to rescue her every 5 minutes from a room she had shut herself in.

On a different note, Addie has found a new method of wearing Lion. We have tried different ways of wrapping swaddle blankets around her so she can wear Lion like I used to wear Etta. The new favorite is quite a clever invention of hers that uses a hooded blanket. We just use a chip-clip to attach the 2 sides together and viola! it's a hat! it's a baby carrier! it's an extra snuggly layer! My goal is to buy a doll sized ergo for her to use. But I am no wanting to pay full price. I know I saw them on daily deal sites once or twice but it was maybe a year ago and they were sold out before I had time to think it through. But Addie is also requesting a stroller for Lion as well as a dolly bathtub for him, so I may need to visit a local thrift store or keep an eye out once yard sale season hits.