Olivia's Noah-Free Zone

Now that Noah can climb just about everywhere, the kitchen table, Olivia's bed, our bed, Olivia doesn't have a place to do her stuff without a toddler messing it up. Usually they play quite well, but Noah is not quite as good with paint, markers, and scissor as Olivia is. Olivia also has a bazillion and one toys with microscopic parts she like to lay out in very precise ways, and Noah is more interested in eating them.

So, Olivia has been going in her room more and more and shutting her door to keep Noah out. This is ok with me occasionally, but it is a problem the more it happens because she does have the largest room in the house and 90% of the toys live in there. It's not really fair to Noah to not only be deprived of his sister to play with, but also of all the noisiest toys in the house!

This morning I got creative and decided to make one area of her room just for her. I moved her dresser, and utilizing it, and her bed, and a baby gate, we created her own little getaway from Noah! Her desk in is there so she can create to her heart's desire. Right away she started playing with cards, laying them all out in nice, neat rows, and there was no 1-year-old to come mess them up! A parenting success, if I say so myself. Olivia can play with her big girl toys by herself while Noah and I still have access to the rest of the room.

The only problem was how she was going to get in and out, if that would necessitate mommy every time. What if she was playing in there and wanted to get out and I was in the middle of nursing Noah to sleep?

Olivia solved that problem very quickly on her own. She climbed right in and out through the hole above the head of her bed! I can't wait until Noah witnesses that for the first time and tries to duplicate it on his own. Hopefully this arrangement will last a little while before that happens.