Every book says to begin babyproofing when your baby is a couple of weeks old, but very few really begin to take the steps until their babies become mobile. However, an accident can take only a matter of seconds. Babyproofing begins from the second you bring your baby home because it is
ensuring your baby is safe at all times from everything. It goes way above and beyond outlet covers and drawer latches.

When you first bring your baby home, figure out what hazards might be posed to your baby. Perhaps it is getting a family pet used to the newest member of the family. Always supervise interaction between your baby and your pet because a cat can scratch or a dog can bite at a moment’s notice. Pay particular attention to fur. A baby can suffocate on a furball, choke on hair they attempt to eat, or lose circulation from hair getting tightened around a finger or toe. Make sure to keep all fur and debris away from your baby at all times. These are your first babyproofing steps.

Ensure your crib is safe. This means making sure the mobile can’t be accessed by the baby, check your crib for recalls, ensure if there’s a dropside that it isn’t defective in any way because a faulty crib can result in injury or death to your baby. The most important thing you can do is to ensure your baby can’t grab onto curtains or blind strings because a baby can get hung up and be strangulated by these items while you think they are sleeping peacefully.

Fun ways to document your child’s growth – Everyone that has kids or nieces and nephews knows how fast they grow. You could buy a growth chart but they are kind of boring. You can mark directly on the wall but you won’t be able to take the wall with you if you ever move. After thinking
and thinking on what I could do to document my own child’s growth beyond the baby book and growth charts I came up with a couple ideas.

The easiest and smallest way to document growth is to simply make projects out of tracing their hands and feet or painting their hands and feet and putting them on something. I do tons of these projects but got to thinking that they don’t really show how tall my daughter is getting.

The first idea I have is quiet simple. With a big roll of plain white butcher paper roll it out until your child can lie completely on the paper. Trace around your child and have them color the paper in. Now you can hang it in your favorite room or simply let it hang on their wall in their bedroom.

For a more abstract design, take the silhouette of your child outside and tape it to a piece of scrap plywood. Fill up water balloons with home made paint or watered down paint from the store. Give your child the balloons with the instructions to throw them at their silhouette. Kids will love this idea!!! Let it dry out in the sun before hanging it on your walls.

For decorations for the outdoors, instead of paper have your child lie down on a sheet of plywood and trace around them. Make sure and tell them to be still so they don’t get splinters. Have them lay with their hands and arms up, down, and to the sides and any other way they can lay.

Next use a jigsaw to cut out the drawing.

Using a belt sander, or hand sander although it will take more work and more time, sand down the cut edges.

Paint the plywood silhouette any way you want it. You can even put one of your child’s shirts on it if you want.

Now display it in your front yard, climbing your fence, in the garden, sitting in a tree, anywhere you want it.

This also makes a great gift for grandparents to add to their yards.

Start your planning a few weeks in advance so you have time to send out invitations and allow the guest’s time to RSVP. Think about the date and time you would like to have the party. If Halloween is on a weekday, consider a weekend party for children who are in school. Maybe the actual
day Halloween falls on won’t work because too many of the invited guests plan on going trick-or-treating. The time of day is important, too. Make it late enough for the people who work but not too late for those who get up early. Decide if you plan on serving a meal and make sure you have plenty of parking.

You can make simple or elaborate decorations but keep in mind it is a children’s party. You can buy fake cobwebs, plastic skulls and rats, and make gravestones from gray and black construction paper. Use black and orange balloons or streamers and set out some pumpkins. Have an adult in charge of the music and play spooky background music to help set the mood for the party.

Think of lots of fun activities the children can do at the party. There are many different kinds of relays like mummy wrapping, they can play pin the tail on the donkey type of games with pumpkin cutouts, and they can even play hot potato with a mini pumpkin. It is good to come up with several games to ensure the kids stay entertained.

If your games aren’t played for candy, consider making up treat bags with various candies that the children can take home with them.

You can set out some craft materials for the children to make their own masks and even orange play dough can be fun for a younger crowd.

Whether all the games are played and the party is still going or the children need a break, dim the lights get out a scary story and sit the kids down for some ghostly tales. Or make a station for the tragic Sam story and set up spaghetti, peeled grapes, peeled tomatoes and baby carrots and have the children guess what body parts they are supposed to be.