Parent Proofing

Now that Elijah is crawling and trying to do some walking, it's time to start baby proofing the house. According to all the baby books and articles, I'm about four months too late on doing this. Apparently, I was supposed to take care of this by the time he was sitting up on his own. I think this is a little silly, personally. Elijah has been crawling for several weeks now but still hasn't attempted to open any drawers or cabinets where all the danger lives. And even if he did, there's not a whole lot of strength in those little 8 inch arms. Besides that, maybe I'm naive, but I don't usually just leave him in a room all alone to entertain himself. So, there's not a whole lot he can get into before I can stop him. I know many of you are saying, "just wait until he does get a little bigger and stronger, and can walk. It's better to go ahead and baby proof everything now." And, "just wait until you have more than one child. It's not as easy to keep an eye on two of them."
While these statements are true, I have decided to do the baby proofing as needed, as we go and as Elijah grows. Why? Because not only do these safety devices keep babies out of things, they also keep their parents out of things. So far, I have only put the little plastic covers on all of the outlets. And I haven't even put them on all of our outlets because they are so dang difficult to take off! I have only put them on the outlets in the rooms that Elijah is in the most. Since putting them on, I have had to vacuum twice and iron once. Both chores I really detest in the first place. Now I have to add an extra 10-15 minutes each onto the time it takes me to iron and vacuum because of these stupid outlet covers. And frankly, that extra 10-15 minutes can make a big difference in my day. It's almost enough to consider not doing them at all anymore. But somehow, that's not really an option.
I've heard that all of the drawer and cabinet "locks" are just as annoying and troublesome. So, until I feel that it's absolutely necessary, they're not being installed in my house. I know some of you are probably all worried now that Elijah is going to get into all sorts of stuff and get hurt or sick because of my sefishness. Not to worry. I am extremely careful and watchful of my little guy and nothing is more important to me than that. So, if it means I have to follow him around the house all day, carry him on my hip (both of which will help me burn more calories!) or stick him in his playpen for a little while, then that's okay with me. As long as it buys me a little more time to be able to cook without having to figure out how to get to my own dishes!