1. Any tips on how to get a toddler to sleep in his bed instead of on the floor behind his door? Those carpet marks on his face can’t be comfortable. I have, on occasion, gone in and moved him into his bed before I go to bed. Sometimes it works and sometimes he stays up crying about his teeth because he’s woken up and been reminded of the pain. It’s so not worth it. Bribes totally don’t work either.

2. When will I safely be able to remove the child-safe knob cover from inside his door and not worry about him being that kid you read about in the newspaper that’s running naked down the street at 3 am?

3. Related: He’s almost ready to go to the bathroom in the night but he’d never go back to bed. He’s dry through his nap and wakes up needing to pee about half the time at night or wakes up dry. How on earth do you make that transition? I’m thinking pull ups at night until all the teeth are in at least. A kid who wakes up and wants to play because he peed at 4 am is not fun.

(News! He cut the second last molar last week. One corner of it anyway. We can see the light at the end of the very freaking long tunnel now. In other news, Bella has two cute little bottom teeth and we didn’t even know they were coming. If I didn’t create, grow & birth them both I’d never know they were related.)

How is corn syrup that you bake with different from high fructose corn syrup that’s in crappy food?

Just as bad? A little better? Worse? Equivalent to broccoli?

The boy (please - go name my kids) is a strange sleeper. He’s been a horrible teether from the get-go and sometimes I think we should have shares in Advil. He has actually eaten his headboard. Spits shards of wood on the floor. It’s crazy.

Anyhoo, on a good night he sleeps 12-13 hours solid and on those days he doesn’t really nap - just sings in his crib for 2 hours but comes out less tired & in a better mood. Most of the time when he’s been up in the night crying & cuddling, he does still sleep during the day.

So is nap time almost over? (Don’t kid yourself. If it is he’ll still be in his room for 2 hours. I just wonder if he’ll be sleeping or not.)
When did your kid(s) stop napping? How did you know it was time?
He’s only 21 months old.

Just curious.

In light of all the toy recalls, here’s some weekend viewing for you.

Support the little guys. We recommend some great ones over here. An extra buck or two could save your kid from lead (or freaking date rape drug) poisoning and someone else’s kid from working in a factory all day to make your Big Box Mart and Dollar Store crap.

Hopping off my soap box now. For a little while, anyway.

So, are you shopping at WalMart for your kids Christmas presents this year? Online? Small local suppliers? How are you going to make sure they’re not loading up on lead? Or GHB? Have you tried the home lead testing kits? Are you remaining in staunch denial? Do tell.

If you can’t guarantee me it’s safe and natural, it’s not going to be found in my house. Frankly, it’s just not worth it.

(My kid? Needs NO toys. We have a garage full of things for him and three toy boxes full in the house. I’ve started getting rid of stuff just to make some room. Anything made in China that has any paint on it is so far gone it’s not even funny. Anyone else in the same boat? What are you buying instead?)

Alrighty. We’re WAY behind on the baby proofing stuff because I’m always with the boy. Like, I mean, always. However, the kid can MOVE now. Fast. Really fast. And sometimes a mommy’s gotta pee, you know?

So, what do you want from me, you ask?

What things did you do/not do when your kid(s) got mobile? What worked? What didn’t? Did you do something that was totally useless? Did you not do something that you regret?

We have gates (though they still need to get screwed in this weekend, but are pressure mounted now), bath safety stuff etc. We are very logical people with a plethora of common sense (or so we like to think), but that doesn’t mean we didn’t miss something that you might be able to teach us.

Do I just stick him in a playpen when I need to avert my attention for a moment? We don’t have much any free space, but I think I may just set it up in the middle of the room out of desperation.

What worked for you for cupboard locks? None of the ones I’ve bought so far work at our house. We have lots of individual cupboards and corner cupboards so there aren’t two handles to connect. Elastics won’t work. Do I need to do the drawers too? With what?

Do I need a gate at the bottom and the top of the stairs? (Probably, right? I guess I have to go shopping.)

Did I miss anything?

(If you have an “ask the audience” question, email me and we can make this a regular thing.)

Have you entered to win Eric Herman’s Monkey Business CD over at MMO yet? You only have until midnight tomorrow! We’re rockin’ to it in the van right now, and loving it! I’m especially digging the song “Crazy over Vegetables.”