CdLS Blog Challenge - Home Modifications/Childproofing

What kind of jerry-rigging or child-proofing have you done at home to meet the needs of your child with CdLS? This could be a serious or comical post. This could be for tube-feeding or any other medical needs, or any other kinds of modifications you have made. Add pictures, if you can.

Our house is what we like to call "Joey Proof". Since Joey became mobile, we have had to make a lot of changes to the interior decor of our home. Duct tape and nails have become as much of a necessity in our lives as food and water. I didn't realize how many things we have actually had to change around here until I really got to thinking about it today. And to us, it doesn't seem unnatural to have our home the way it is ~ it just seems normal to us. Here a few of the things we have had to do:

~There are no chairs at our kitchen table. Joey will climb on them to get on the table or move them to another spot to climb on something else.
~We cannot have any lamps in our home. Joey will pull them down or knock them over whenever he gets a chance.
~There are no knick-knacks, plants or other "pretties" where Joey can reach them. The few things we do display are put way up high.
~There are very few things hanging on the walls. If there is something on the wall, it has to be very securely hung as Joey will pull it down if he gets a chance to climb up and grab something.
~Our furniture is positioned according to where the electrical outlets are.
~We have duct tape adorning many of our cupboards and drawers. This has worked so far although now Joey is learning to peel off the tape so we will soon have to get some safety latches.
~There are several things in our home that have been knocked over. For example: recliners, computer monitor, trash cans, Joey's dresser and end tables just to name a few. Joey has an amazing amount of upper body strength.
~Joey's dresser is nailed to his bedroom floor. He would constantly pull out the drawers and knock over the dresser. We have his dresser positioned in front of the one outlet in his room we use for his lamp at night. The lamp is removed daily or it gets destroyed. There is a yard stick through the drawer handles to keep him from getting the drawers open. I am considering getting one of those lights you can hang up that you just push off and on. Of course then Joey would spend a great amount of time trying to figure out how to get to that light.
~We move Joey's crib to the middle of his room when he goes to bed. About the time we nailed his dresser to the floor, he learned to climb from his crib onto his dresser. The only things in his bedroom are his crib, his dresser and his toys. There are two outlets in his room that have covers screwed on them with no openings. Joey proves to be a regular magician when it comes to removing any type of outlet cover.
~Our bathroom, bedroom and basement doors remain closed at all times. We do not have to lock them yet but Joey is curious about how to work the handles so it probably won't be long before they will be locked.
~We cannot load or unload the dishwasher, take out the trash, cook or do much of anything in the kitchen when Joey is in the room. Unless of course we want some broken dishes or worse, a burned hand.
~Curtains? What are curtains?

Here is Joey attempting to climb on his dresser....


Alright!! I made it!


Here is one of his outlet covers....


Here is the ramp that was added to the house in 2007...


Okay, so we won't be winning any interior decorating awards for awhile. This is our life. This is our normal. And we wouldn't trade in our duct tape and bare walls for anything.