Rope ladders

[pablopatito]

So DS is 8 months old and I reckon he's only a few days away from crawling. We know we're going to have to prepare the house in order to keep him alive, so we read "What to Expect the First Year" by Arlene Eisenberg et al which had a chapter on what you need to do to make your house safe.

Well number 28 or so on the list says we should buy a rope ladder and install it in one of the upstairs bedrooms and practice escaping through the bedroom window carrying a doll. So I just wanted to know if you all have rope ladders installed?

I must admit it wasn't something I'd considered doing! But if I ignore this one, which of the other 2,324 things they say I need to do can I also ignore?

I guess what I really want to ask is what are the safety type things you didn't do that you now wish you had of done (and avoided that trip to casualty and/or permanent scar on junior's forehead).

I really don't want to do 2,324 things to our house - it may actually be easier to just cover all our possessions with bubblewrap, so was hoping for a definitive list of the essentials required to ensure DS see life through to his first birthday at least.

Thanks

Wish we'd ripped up the slate hearths and put foam round the edges of wooden chair seats - only kidding - you just get used to casualty and scarring. Your neighbours may call the guys in the white coats if they see you climbing out your bedroom window with a doll. Seriously tho you can get a metal chain rope ladder-style rescue ladder that you hook over your window sill if you need to escape. Good thing to get to 'guarantee' you'll never need to use it, rather than wishing you had one when a catastrophe strikes.

If you put a rope ladder up won't the little buggers just climb out, eh?

Ha! No, of course not. My neighbours would think I was insane.
Mind you I did think about buying a small fire extinguisher the other day after all those horror stories about houses burning down because of Christmas lights. I don't really do anything except I've just bought a stairgate to trap dd in the kitchen as we don't have a kitchen door and she lives to climb the stairs (aka Wall of Death). Btw she's my second child. First still alive!

Doesn't matter how safe you think it is something always comes up. Today DS1 has managed to wack DD on the head with his fathers stethoscope and we had blood everywhere...

Even the most innocuous(sp?) things can turn out to be hazardous. We have a pine coffee table, rounded corners which still slice throuh ds' ear when he fell against it - blood everywhere, glueing required, scarred a year on .