Brody is adorable and obviously has no problem smiling now days! He definitely looks like his daddy! I had 4 kids and never child proofed anything. Of course that was in the 60's and I guess we didn't know what "child proofing" meant.LOL They also all knew what "no" meant.They played in the commode,ate the cat and dog food,had the usual bumps,scratches bangs,even drank out of the dogs water bowl,climbed on the kitchen counter and top of dressers! They all have also swallowed their share of coins of different denominations (and other things),but that's a whole other story.LOL They also played in the pots and pans cabinet and with plastic bowls and wooden spoons.I did put dangerous liquids that normally one would keep under the sink in a high place but that's about it.They all survived! As someone else mentioned,they should never be left alone long enough for those kinds of things to be a danger.The only thing I would do would be to anchor anything that might fall over on top of them to the wall.

Even if I was willing to have knives on the counter and count on the baby not climbing up their, a knife block or magnetic strip wouldn't be very feasible for us. We keep kosher so we have separate knives for meat, dairy and parve (neither meat nor dairy). On top of that my favorite knife is a chinese chef's knife (shaped like a cleaver but lighter). I don't have enough available backsplash to put all those on a magnetic strip. mkitchen, I did find a listing for a baby proofer around here. I'm a little concerned that if we get one out, he will want to over-do it. Did you find the suggestions reasonable? And how much did it cost? lightlystarched, what kind of latches did your parents put in that got misshapen and useless after a month? We used latches on a few doors and drawers when our kids were little and they lasted for years. We have put latches on the low doors and drawers in the entertainment center because that is where we have her play area set up and we didn't want to be saying "No" all the time there. My DH and DDIL prefer that we say "only look" or "only touch" if it is something that she can touch but shouldn't put in her mouth to tell her what she can do instead of "no". I prefer to leave "no" or "only look" for the things that she might damage like the vertical blinds and secure the things that could quickly damage her badly.

I have to disagree with livysmom about tweed-type fabric. My couch is tweed-like and my boy cat LOVES to scratch it (my girl cat is totally happy with her scratching post, which the boy cat refuses to use!) I finally broke down and bought one of those pressed cardboard scratching boxes and both my cats love it, but, as I feared, I am constantly dustbusting cardboard shreds, sometimes multiple times a day (and I'm no neat freak). I think I'll be trying microsuede (or Ultrasuede) when I get the couch re-covered. It should at least be easier to vacuum, being smooth. Tweed-like fabrics really grab onto cat hair making vacuuming a real chore. That is all. Cats rule. p.s. Hey Cynthia, I love the picture of your dog and cats!

My broyhill was not slipcovered. It was a reclining sofa, ottoman and oversized chair set. Within three years, the fabric looked horrible and there were rips where the attached back cushions had separated from the frame on the sofa. If even a little water was spilled on the sofa, it showed a water spot ring that was impossible to remove without steam cleaning the entire sofa. The oversized chair also developed a rip/tear on the seat cushion that was not repairable. This chair was usually only used by occasional guests. We lived on the sofa (and still do)so I really expected the chair to wear better as well. Overall I paid three times more for the Broyhill furniture and it looked awful much sooner. I do occasionally miss the reclining option of the sofa, but not enough to offset the cost and appearance differences. I honestly think that any slipcovered piece by any manufacturer would give you the same benefits that I love about my Ektorp pieces. It is the slipcovers that make all the difference in my opinion. However, Ikea was able to give me the option of having all of the slipcovered pieces at a much lower cost and replacement slipcovers are very reasonable as well. I have an extra set of white slipcovers for all three pieces, just "in case", but I can't see the need to open those packages for a very long time. I think my original white covers will easily last as long as I keep the furniture. If I knew how well the slipcovers would come clean, I would have purchased another set of more "wild" pattern for an occasional change instead.