DD#1 can unlock the baby gates....

[bubbaray]

WTF? Like having a house full of flu-ridded people isn't bad enough.... DH thought that today would be good day to teach DD#2 to crawl upstairs. Nice. Whatever. So, once the troops made it to the top of the stairs, he locked the gate, went downstairs to get the camera, then I (upstairs, on the computer) have this "moment", run to the top of the stairs to find DD#1 HOLDING THE FRICKEN GATE OPEN for DD#2. DD#2 was about 3 inches from going headfirst down the stairs.

OMG OMG OMG.

At first, I thought DH had not locked the gate properly, but he swore he did. Then, DD#1 was laughing, so we figured she definitely did it, put her in time out. She came out of time and, when asked by us, showed us how to unlock the gate. Little fricken fracken STINKER. Pushes the lock with one hand and uses her other arm/shoulder to lift the gate. And these are the *good* Kidco metal gates, specifically designed for top of the stair use.

What now?!

My fever is way to high for me to be dealing with this. Seriously. Ugh.

[JoyNChrist]

You have my sympathies.

DS can unlock the gate between the living room and dining room. He's 9 months old. Thankfully, we don't have stairs to deal with, but it's still really annoying.

[elizabethkott]

Oh. NO!!!!!
What about a bungee cord-type attachment to wrap around the pass through part to connect it to the stationary part?
Oy Vay. DS just learned to climb the stairs Sunday, and now it's all he wants to do. He stands at the bottom at the gate and shakes it, screaming at the top of his little lungs.
And Stacy, ***9 months*** and he's figured out how to unlock the gate?! What the heck kind of genius baby do you have going there?! Holy crap! Sign that kiddo up for Westinghouse scholarships or Mensa or something!

[bubbaray]

Thanks ladies. The gates we have at the top and bottom of the stairs are the Kidco Safeway gates. They are brutal to open, even for most adults. Very stiff and hard to do. DH, an engineer, is shocked DD#1 can do it, even strength-wise. We can't bungy them -- hard to explain, but there is nothing to bungee to. So, we are going to switch the upstairs one with the downstairs one. For some reason, DD#1 can't open the downstairs one (which is actually older than the upstairs one), so we'll *just* swap them. Its a huge PITA b/c they are bolted into the walls.

I should have bought the cheap ones. I bet she'd not figure those out, LOL! Interestingly, she hasn't figured out the one at daycare. Its an Evenflo one and about half the price of the Kidco ones....

I swear, I lost about 10 years off my life in that moment though. It was like DD#1 was herding DD#2 to the top of the stairs and trying to get her to go down them.... Ahhhhhhhhhh

[JoyNChrist]

And Stacy, ***9 months*** and he's figured out how to unlock the gate?! What the heck kind of genius baby do you have going there?! Holy crap! Sign that kiddo up for Westinghouse scholarships or Mensa or something!

Yep...it's a pretty simple design...you just lift a latch to open the center door and walk through. So Avery discovered that if he crawls over to the gate and pulls up on it, he can hold on with one hand while slapping the latch with the other hand until it pops open. Then he crawls through, grinning like he just made the discovery of the century.

Sigh...I love him, but I can already tell this kid's gonna give me quite a few gray hairs as he grows up...

[bubbaray]

Yep...it's a pretty simple design...you just lift a latch to open the center door and walk through.

My 3.5yo's skills notwithstanding, check out the Kidco Safeway gates. They are kinda pricey but quite hard to open. They are safe for the top of the stairs, but work elsewhere too.

[scoop22]

wow.. that is impressive. not that you want to hear that right now. ds is very close to locking it but hasn't even tried to unlock it. i am waiting for him just to climb over it. we do have a "no touch" policy on the gate but you never know.. i will be more aware now that you have posted this.

[elizabethkott]

Ohhhhh - I *wish* "no touch" worked in this house. "No touch" just makes the off-limits object that much more desirable. Like the remote. The cell phone. The directv receiver. The regular phone. The computer. The portable heater.
You see where this is going?
Monsterbaby!
God help me when he decides to let go and start walking...
I'm scr3wed.