the intrepid explorer.

[hildare]

hi.. dd is 8 months. toys are not interesting. NEW things are interesting. Corners that have been left unpoked at are interesting. Drawers that open = interesting. Anything remotely dangerous = interesting!!! We've babyproofed as much as possible, and we've tried rotating the baskets of things (toys and other things, but I feel like I've exhausted the collection of odd found objects) -- but other than that, how do you handle your little explorers?
I mean, are you doing anything special to set up scenarios that allow for exploration with some safety? I know there must be something I'm not thinking of. <3

[kismetbaby]

Phew, I am with you mama. My 9m is suddenly only interested in all the things I haven't or can't figure out how to baby-proof. Fireplace, base of toilet, bedroom fan. . .he can crawl pretty dang fast when he wants one of these things. Argh.

Haven't figured out quite what to do short of ALWAYS following him around the house. We have talked about putting all the dangerous stuff in the office and making the bedroom (he shares with us) the safe zone. But then what do we do with the fan that we use for the heat and for white noise? I can never find a way to make one room totally safe.

So hopefully, some other mamas have some good ideas. . .

[carmel23]

We're going through this with my 6 month 2 week-old little one who loves to crawl, pull up on *everything* and generally get into trouble. He loves to eat paper, and books.

Can you get some boxes and set up and interesting obstacle course? My guy spends a lot of time trying to get big wooden blocks out of a big box. Right now he is going between that and a flashlight his sister left on the floor. Pull the cushions off the couch and let baby crawl over them?

[sunbun]

I just gave our son a cupboard in the kitchen. I fill it with the tupperware and other stuff that he can't break. He doesn't like it as much as he likes dumping the cat food on the floor, but it will keep him occupied for a little while.

[AndtheStars]

My almost 11 mo DS loves to pull all the clothes out of the bottom drawer of his dresser, throw them around, put them back in the drawer, take them out, throw them around....I let him have the bottom drawers of his dresser because they are difficult for him to close. He is also way more interested in the contents of the drawers than opening and closing them. OP, could you just unplug the fan or move it on top of a dresser or bed where he couldn't reach it? There are items in every room of our house that I am constantly putting up and down as DS moves in and out of the rooms. I have also found that DS doesn't care about dangerous things if they arent' directly on his level and that his desire for certain things wanes quickly if I let him explore it with supervision once and he sees that it doesn't perform any neat tricks.

[mkksmom]

The way I keep my sanity is to have one room as a safe zone. There are some no's in there but not as many, so I can relax just a little.