House Change: Living Room

As Kellan gets older we are having to make small changes to the house here and there.  When he was a newborn, pretty much the only thing that changed about the living room was finding a spot for his swing.  When he started having tummy time and playing on his activity mat, I kept a big blanket in the middle of the floor for him to lie on.  I kept a basket of toys and a basket of books in the living room so that I could pull a few out for him.  I would read books to him and put them right back in the basket.  His toys would stay right there on the blanket because he couldn't go any farther himself.

 

I still had the blanket in the floor up until last week when I realized it was totally unnecessary because he never, ever stays on it.  He is EVERYWHERE and his toys and books are everywhere.  I find toys in the guest bedrooms and bathroom, kitchen, on the other side of the fireplace, our bedroom, our bathroom, my closet, Michael's closet...literally ALL. OVER. THE. HOUSE.  So there is zero point in keeping the blanket in the middle of the floor.  He sits or lays wherever he pleases, hardwood, carpet, or tile...its all fine to him.  And toys and books definitely do not get put back in the baskets at the end of the day unless Michael or I do it.  By the end of the day, both baskets are usually empty with their contents strewn all around.

 

Now that he has entered the pulling up stage, he is trying out the fireplace, the bar stools, the coffee table, the couch, love seat, and chair, the oven door, the refrigerator, and even the dishwasher.  Most of those objects cannot be helped and I just have to keep my eye on his little busy body.  The main change that we needed to make was our glass top coffee table that has 4 sharp corners and metal legs that Kellan likes to climb under and get stuck.  The coffee table is also where his book basket is, where our laptop stays, and where we sit to watch TV, read, and eat (we really need to change that too) so Kellan is always hanging around it trying to stay close to us.

 

This is how the living room starts out at the beginning of the day (with the old coffee table)

Toy and book baskets neatly arranged...



This is what happens while we eat dinner...we have a little visitor at our feet and under the table

Where he usually gets mad because he gets stuck and can't figure out how to get out

This time he was just happy to play and look up at our plates but he usually gets mad or tries to pull up on the sides.  We really needed something that was OK for him to pull up on and that I wasn't worried he was going to hurt himself on by falling up against it.

So here is the living room after our new ottoman.  It matches our other furniture perfectly.  It is soft sided so now I don't worry about Kellan clinging to the sides of it or trying to stand up.



I think he approves!

 

And here is our living room after a typical day with Kellan.

 

 

 

 

 

Michael came home one day and said "Oh my gosh!  Did he do all of this?!"  I just looked at him.  Well it certainly wasn't me!  He may be little but he can make quite a mess...in a very short amount of time.