Bronwyn, miss busy body, is bound and determined to explore
and experience EVERYTHING. And that means baby proofing. Safety locks on toilet
seats, plugs in outlets, knob covers on the stove… oh wait. Never mind. In some
ways baby proofing is easier here. Fewer wires and gadgets and appliances
electronics means less chance of personal injury in many regards. She does pull everything off
the shelves which makes me strangely happy as I watch her do it, probably
because it looks so… normal… and
sometimes I worry that this girl leads such an abnormal life that something so simple brings comfort to my
ridiculous, still somewhat American heart.
My girl doesn’t own a
single doll, but its ok! She can pull stuff off of shelves! What? How is that comforting, Bethany?
Anyway.
The number one concern in our baby proofing is FIRE. We have
nursed back to health so many burn victims. Kalunga fell into the brazier and still limps with
his left leg. The skin around Michael’s ankle grew back too tight and it
doesn’t bend fully any more. Bana Miriam has no use of her left hand… All fire
related injuries. Granted, most of the problem came from the fact that their
mothers put ashes and toothpaste on the wounds, severely affecting the healing
processes. But still, burns are really common since most families keep a fire going all the time, and we are TERRIFIED of Bronwyn
getting too close to the flames.
We’ve moved the pack and play into the kitchen and force her
to sit in there as long as we are moving around the fire getting dinner ready
and unable to hold her.
So that she can sit with us during dinner, we’ve hung her
doorway bouncy chair from the roof beams so she can stand on the table and chew
on apple wedges while we eat.
We’re considering making a few other changes to facilitate
our no-burn-baby initiatives, but for now this is what we have going!
