Making Way for Mobility!

Goodness, what a weekend.  We were in a car accident on Saturday.  Luckily we are okay, just a bit bruised and sore.  My poor car was totaled.  Anyway, we took the weekend off from lessons and probably won't start back up until I have some more pep.  I think Xander is already back to normal.  On the plus side, since I will have no car for a while, maybe I can finally finish those power points and videos that keep getting put off!  I will post them as I get them done.

 However, we did do some productive things this weekend.  My dad came over and helped me move some stuff around in Xander's room.

Firstly, it was time to drop Xander's crib.  While he has been a wiggle worm for a while, he has yet to pull himself up in there.  I don't think he see a reason to.  Regardless, it was past due.  Even though it goes against recommendations, I put his bumpers back on.  Lately he has had a tendency of getting his legs through the bars and then getting stuck.  You can imagine how angry and frustrated that makes him.  I am hoping the bumpers will prevent it.  He is also mobile enough I don't really worry about him suffocating with them.

Testing out the lower perspective.

Really wish IKEA had had the rail guards in stock when we bought the crib...

Also, with Xander being so close to crawling (and walking), I was worried about having the his books so low.  He likes his books a lot, but isn't very gentle with them, or anything else for that matter.  I really needed to get them off floor level.  I brought up an old bookcase and my dad chained it to the wall to prevent tipping if someone should decide to go climbing.

I didn't want to make all of his books inaccessible, so the bottom shelf holds some of his board books.  I set them up cover out to make them more appealing.  The next shelf up also holds only board books.  The third shelf holds books he should recognize most of the words in.  I try to read some of these every day as reinforcement.  They include our Preschool Prep easy readers, the YBCR books (we only have the first three), the YBCD books, and a book on colors I made him.  There are a couple other sets we plan to get eventually also.  The top two shelves, which aren't pictured, hold my parenting books and some of his storybooks (the ones I was worried about him destroying).  Because his other shelves were so small, over half of his books are packed away in boxes to be rotated.  Eventually I will get them out and then shelves won't look so bare.  I also put half of his play mats (similar to these) in front of the shelves for a nice cozy play area.

Amusing himself while I organize his toys.

Even though they don't work for books anymore, I still LOVE his old shelves.  Now that they are cleared off I put out some toys that I don't mind him playing with by himself.  I plan to rotate often until he is ready to gradate to tot trays.  In fact, if I can find some trays to fit, I may even start putting out some baby safe tray activities.

Just for fun I put down my floor length mirror for him to look at for a while.  It won't be a permanent fixture, but he is amused by it.

Hanging out in his new play space.

All in all, I am very happy with the changes.  Xander room is one of my favorite place in the house.  I know we won't be here much longer, but until we do move I wanted a safe, inviting place for him to play and explore.