May 26th, 2009

Evenflo Summit Pressure Mounted Gate

Our nearly one-year old daughter likes to play a game we call “Baby Jailbird”. She hoists herself up to the metal baby gate, grips the bars, and rattles them as hard as she can – while demanding to see her attorney. World’s smallest felon – so cute!

Fortunately the gate doesn’t budge. We have two of these pressure-mounted gates blocking off our living/dining room area, preventing baby F. (and anyone else in the house) from reaching the stairs. Opening the gate requires a triple act of coordination: pushing in two buttons with your fingers while simultaneously pulling back on the handle and swearing quietly under your breath so your 6-year old can’t hear you. Most of the time I can manage it; the kids, never. And isn’t that what you want from a safety gate?

Pros: Once properly installed, it is quite secure. Helpful green/red dot indicates when it is firmly latched (or not).

Cons: Tedious to install and sometimes hard to open, especially if you have snot on your hands.

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This Weeks Tip

The daily debate: Do I really have time to “fine wash” my “fine washables”? Or do I throw them in the washing machine with the rest of the not-so-fines and hope for the best? Let’s just say that I’ve had to pull out the pliers more than once to try to reconfigure those little pieces of frayed metal into something that resembles a hook. But never again! Throw your fine washables into a pillowcase, knot it, and into the washer they go. They’ll come out just as fine as they were when you began (only cleaner).

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