Tuesday, April 11

21st century baby surveillance

Before we traveled to China and brought Gwen home, we spent a great deal of time baby-proofing our home. We attached the floor lamps to the wall. We tied the doors to the fireplace closed. We moved all of our stereo equipment up out of her reach. And we put soft foam bumpers around everything else in the room!

Then we stood back and watched her defeat every bit of it! She carries toys in from another room and uses them to stand on so she can reach forbidden DVD player buttons. She climbs from the recliner to the piano! She assaults the plants (even the fake ones) and climbs the cat tree. She removes the register from the floor vent and tries to encourage the cat to crawl into the exposed black hole by throwing snacks into it. She's nearly climbed over the kitchen gate! It's just a matter of days before she finally manages that and then we'll have to put those horrible latches on the kitchen drawers and cupboards. I'm really dreading that!

So, we've purchased some high tech surveillance assistance. This gadget is so cool! I can see everything she's doing from any room in the house. I no longer have to wonder if she's using my 2 minute potty break to plan her next great escape. I can actually watch her do it and holler in vain as she ignores the frantic admonition from behind the closed bathroom door. Of course, when I actually confront her, she looks all innocent like she wasn't doing anything wrong. She probably wonders how I knew.

I used to think my mom had eyes in the back of her head. I've got something much better though!

Just think.... our parents didn't even have remote controls for the TV and we have this cool stuff!

12 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

Ha! Holy wow! Love it. How absolutely cool.

April 11, 2006 6:11 PM  
Blogger Joannah said...

Oh, I'm gonna want one of those! What a great idea.

April 11, 2006 7:19 PM  
Blogger M3 said...

Oooo, is that a portable one?!! That is awesome. It's even better than our computer-based cat cam.

April 11, 2006 7:59 PM  
Blogger glo said...

Pretty cool. I think I kow another couple who will be needing that very very soon.

April 11, 2006 8:09 PM  
Blogger Shelley said...

What happens if she move out of line of sight of the cam? Does it move with her?

She sounds pretty smart and active. I'm sure she will figure out the vulnerabilities of this little gizmo in no time. :) Heh heh.

Shell

April 11, 2006 9:47 PM  
Blogger Donna said...

The camera is set up to 'see' everything in the family room. If she leaves the family room, the only place she can go is the office and the office is like the Fort Knox of baby-proofing!

If I'm not in the family room with her, I'm generally in the office.

:)

Donna

April 11, 2006 10:29 PM  
Blogger Family Bits said...

Ohh that's funny..Well, to me as the one hearing the story, it's funny anyway. Scott also dreaded the cupboard locks. They are hard to install..Or so he said :-)
What did you use to attach the floor lamps to the walls? We still need to do that.
I love this post, it's really humorous.

April 12, 2006 12:22 AM  
Blogger Tammy said...

Pretty cool gadget!

Gwen is quite the climber. We bought an extra tall baby gate to block the kitchen off. Gotta always be one step ahead of those little buggers - you never know what their next trick will be.

April 12, 2006 7:09 PM  
Blogger Lissa said...

I "lost it" on the throwing treats down the air vents to see the cats go after them...I know it's not funny...but that's funny! :-)

Lissa

April 13, 2006 4:55 AM  
Blogger Sjoukje said...

Very clever, Donna!

But how are Gwen and Madeline ever going to do secret projects for mother's day without you knowing all about it? ;-)

By the way, here in China people awe at my 3 sons and I've had a few remarks already that stated: "We call two children 'double happiness', and you have three!" - which reminded me of your blog. It's really the word they choose and it 's such a good name for your blog!

Sjoukje

April 14, 2006 12:27 AM  
Blogger Lisa said...

Oh my gosh... that was too funny! Cool gadget too!

Lisa :)

April 14, 2006 9:13 AM  
Blogger Michelle said...

That is so cool! I bet my Mom could have used on of those when I was growing up! She had twins to keep an eye on, much like you will have when you have two children that are the same age!

April 14, 2006 12:02 PM  

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