Dylan the Gatekeeper

The thing about having two kids is that you are constantly juggling your time between the two. If one is content the other is usually demanding. It is non-stop. If Joe is home it is manageable. It's “man-on-man” coverage. He takes Dylan and I take Matthew. But if he isn't home, then it makes it almost impossible to get anything done around the house. Normally, I would just put the baby gate up in the family room to contain the boys if I need to get a few things done. But without fail, Matthew eventually will crawl up to the gate, try to climb it and end up hanging off of it crying and wailing until I save him. It's a time-consuming and an ineffective way of keeping him contained.

One night I asked Dylan if he would help me entertain Matthew while I got dinner together. I told him not to let Matthew into the kitchen. So for about 10 minutes, everytime Matthew would near the two stairs that lead from the family room to the kitchen, Dylan would pull Matthew by the feet, and drag him on this tummy to the middle of the family room. Of course Matthew would cry and protest and try again. I stepped in and asked Dylan if maybe there was a better way to keep Matthew from crawling up the steps. Like play with him, make funny faces, tell him a story, you know entertain him.

Dylan thought about it for a minute. I could see the little wheels turning in his head. Then he came up with this brilliant idea.

And it totally worked! Who needs $300 worth of gates when you can use the couch cushions as a barricade? Well done my little problem solver.