Locks

At our house we have lots and lots of locks. We have locks for cabinets and locks for doors. We have locks for all sorts of things.

Shown here is a lock for our bathroom. It is placed on the outside of the door just as high up as I can reach (which isn't all that high since I'm really short).

Why, you ask, do we have so many locks? And why would anyone need a lock on the outside of the bathroom?

Because we don't like stepping into mysterious goo messes at random times during the day. Because there are short, energetic creatures who will open each and every drawer and cabinet in the house and empty the contents of each and every bottle into the bath water. Because if we didn't have the locks we would certainly have many more trips to the emergency room.

We put up locks on the the front door to keep the child inside so he doesn't roam the streets wearing only his diaper. We put up locks on the back door so that he doesn't go out to dig in the back yard when it is blizzarding outside. In short our house is not just child safe - it is autistic child safe.

Refrigerator Locks

So we finally had to break down and get some locks for the fridge. Mr. Energy likes to snack throughout the day. In fact if we let him I don't think he would sit down for a meal ever. I don't mind that so much, but he has a habit of making messes if left to his own devices in the kitchen.

So all of the crackers are locked in the cupboards, all of the cookies (when I get around to baking them) are put up high. And now the refrigerator has a pair of safety locks on it to keep him out as well.

Not only does he tend to make messes he also tends to leave the fridge door wide open and around here it gets pretty hot which means that I can't really have all that cold air being replaced with a bunch of hot air. So locks on the fridge it is. I hope he grows out of this stage soon.

The Moneky Harness

The Monkey Harness is an indispensable tool in our arsenal to keep our kid safe. We actually have another harness which is a puppy, but we like the monkey harness the best.

He wears it on his back like a little backpack, and the tail is a leash. We never really used a harness with our other children, but with little mister energy it is absolutely necessary.

We send him to school everyday with his little harness on so that his older brother can hold onto him and keep him from running off until he is in the safe hands of his teachers.

At stores, most of the time he still rides in the shopping cart, but for those times when he just won't cooperate the monkey is a life saver. He is getting to where he wants to do more things that other children do and this is one way to allow him those experiences without having to worry if he is going to be off down the street in another three seconds.