The baby gate

Since Maisie came to our house, we have rediscovered one of the most wonderful gifts we received before Reasa came along...the baby gate. You don't realize how much you appreciated these inventions until something comes along that needs to be very deliberately kept out of certain areas...for whatever reason, Maisie can't enter the living room without peeing on the carpet. I don't pretend to understand this...I can only think that the previous owners' pets used this carpet frequently...I don't know. Whatever. Regardless, we have kept Maisie out of the living room with the help of the 11-year-old baby gate. She has free reign of the kitchen, family room and classroom this way, but her accidents are generally limited to the sun porch. I don't know. Maybe, eventually, she'll be fully housebroken. Maybe I'm just not a competent pet owner. Either way...back to the baby gate.


Tonight, we needed to restrict Maisie to the classroom. Our friends' sons are not comfortable with dogs, especially rambunctious red puppies, so we adjusted the size of the plastic baby gate, and blocked off the classroom. After our friends left, I moved the gate to the living room again, readjusting the gate, and when I pushed down on the latch/handle, the plastic went "SNAP!"

I seriously didn't know what to do. I made the comment just yesterday that I couldn't believe we still had this baby gate--told the kids that we had gotten it as a gift for a baby shower before I had Reasa...that it was over 11 years old...the kids were blown away. They just couldn't believe the gate had been around longer than Reasa had been!!

And today...one of the last items from my babies' perfect babyhood still in use in my house...it's headed to the dump. These little things, they just keep happening. My baby turns 11 in a week and a half. It's ending so quickly! You will never hear me wishing their childhoods away--I have never been that mom.

Stop this fast-moving ride...please...I want to get off.