Lauren B. Lentini

Jordan is working hard at crawling. And while he hasn’t made it past the all-fours-and-rocking stage yet, he is an expert roller. And I learned the hard way how much mobility that can give a kid with determination. I put him down halfway across the room one day and left for two seconds to come back and find him here:

Obviously, the fireplace hearth is hurdle one of Operation: Babyproof. So, armed with a bit of Pinterest research, some of my own ingenuity, $3 worth of pool noodles, and an old fleece blanket, I made a safe(r) fireplace.

Step 1: Cut up the pool noodles and fit them to the hearth. They were easy enough to cut with regular scissors and made a satisfying, bubble-wrap like noise. I was a bit skeptical when I saw the diameter of the noodle, but they stretched nicely and fit snugly.

Step 2: Make a mitered corner. I wasn’t particularly exact about this process, but it didn’t need to be perfect because I’d be covering it up anyway. I soon traded up my scissors for a mat cutter, the closest thing I had to an Xacto knife on hand. I used the bits I cut off one noodle to make the other half of the corner, and as I mentioned, it wasn’t an exact science.

Step 3: Give the leftovers to your baby. All of a sudden, he was having the best day ever!

(I wiped it off first.)

Progress shot. Not bad, right?

Step 4: Cover with fleece. I cut up the old fleece blanket, preserving as much of the finished edge as I could. (This is a no-sew project.) I put the finished edge against the floor and pinned the cut edge to the noodle. At this point, I took a break for dinner and Jordan decided to investigate the new thing in the room–and nearly found the pins. Replacing one hazard with another, ladies and gentlemen.

Step 5: Affix the fleece. As you can see from the above photo, I used my trusty hot-glue gun for this purpose. I just folded the corners under and glued the fleece to itself. Same for where the two pieces overlap. After I stuck it all down, I tucked the raw edge underneath the noodle and called it done.

It’s not the most attractive thing in the world, but I don’t think it’s a total eyesore. It’s not going to save him from bruising if he decides to head-butt the brick part of the hearth, but hopefully it will prevent any scraping. I could always add some padding underneath the blanket. I do have a whole bag of buffalo snow…

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Blog housekeeping: There hasn’t been much to report on the goal-making and -keeping front. February was largely a failure. My March goal — getting out of bed half an hour early — has been stymied by illness (yes, again), winter weather, the fact that Jordan has stopped consistently sleeping through the night, and sheer laziness. Nevertheless, I’ve got something big planned for April, so expect an update on that. First, though, my mom is coming to visit! Maybe she’ll give Jordan the inspiration he needs to crawl. Now that I’m not scared of him meeting the fireplace, I can’t wait to see him move!