What Matters

This boy keeps me on my toes way to much.  Since he is getting older that means he is getting smarter and realizing that he can play with things in a different way then what they are intended to be used for and an example is the pack n' play mat.  

 

 While pregnant I am not allowed to lift anything over 25 lbs. and that includes my son.  Yeah right!  I don't think they realize what an active guy I have.  Well some mornings I would have to rest for a bit and I didn't want Seth having free rein of the place while I did so.  He would go into the pack n' play for that short amount of time.  One day he was being too quite and I couldn't see him well.  I wasn't sure why since I was in the same room with him and all but as I walked over I discovered why.  He had figured out that he could move the mat and climb under it and that it was much more fun that way.

 I thought that it was just a one time discovery so I picked him up and placed that mat back down and his toys up on top again.  I guess that was the wrong thing to do in his mind because he immediately worked on getting the mat up again and crawling under it.  I didn't like this cause I don't want him to get hurt and I also didn't want him ruining the pack n' play either.  When daddy got home I told him the amazing thing our son learned today and that we were going to go out shopping.

I had a very simple design in mind to help stop this new fun game of Seth's.  I knew the only reason he could get under the mat was because it was light and could bend.  We got a thick piece of board and cut it to the size of the pack n' play.  Then glued some foam padding to one side and next stapled some wipe clean fabric over it.

I picked a grey color because it was natural and surprisingly it went along with the colors of the pack n' play so it looks like it was always like that.  Since the project was so simple it only took us an hour to make and have ready for him the next day.  I will be honest but I might have enjoyed watching him trying to get that thing up a little too much but at least I know it works great.