Swinging Freely

I was cleaning up the family room last night when I heard the distinct whirrring and whining of DH's cordless power drill in the kitchen. Entering the room (power tools in my kitchen are rarely a good thing), I found we'd reached another family milestone.

The end of the babyproofed era.

One by one, DH removed the childproof latches from the lower cabinets and drawers. Good call--the kids have been able to operate them for awhile and we didn't need them anymore. And if we're all being honest, DH and I had long figured out that a good hard yank on the cabinet knob released the latch all by itself, and we'd been opening our doors and drawers with brute force for a couple of years.

I'm pretty sure those latches were the last scraps of babyproofing equipment to be on our house, although I'd have to really do a close walk-through to be sure. The crib came down quite some time ago. Most of the outlet covers were chucked almost as soon as they went on, and what a royal pain in the rump those things are! They lasted only marginally longer than the toilet locks (and to those of you scoffing at the thought of toilet locks...scoff while ye may. Clearly, you've never had a toddler whose idea of fun is either chucking things--and by "things" I mean entire rolls of toilet paper--into the potty or "washing" her hands there. I used to scoff, too. Enjoy it, my demonchild-less friends. Your time will come.).

Course, by the time I got around to making dinner last night, I'd forgotten about the missing latches. So I gave the middle drawer our customary really hard yank and sent myself flying back into our breakfast bar. Good times, my friends. DH, at least, thought it was hilarious.

This morning, I remembered. (Score!) Gently opened the cabinets the way God intended. Quietly. Smoothly. One-handedly. And shut them with the most delicate whisper of a "whump," instead of the jarring SLAM! to which we've become accustomed. Ahhh...swish...whump. It's almost meditative, the sound of my drawers opening sans locks. Womb-like, even. Swish...whump. Swish...whump.

I suppose this moment should make me sad. I guess I should be pining for the day there were little fingers cramming themselves into the cabinets, just searching for something sharp or heavy or hot with which to maim themselves. But the whole baby/toddler thing never did it for me. All that screaming and barfing and random danger in places you never dreamed could be treacherous. I much prefer this, when they can play for hours in a whole other room and I don't have to lock up my pots and pans to keep everybody's innards inside their skin, where they belong (cleaning products are in a way-high-up cabinet...so high I need to get on my tiptoes to reach...just in case you were thinking of calling social services or anything. We're not babyproofed but we're not all grown up either.).

So there it is. Freedom rings for my cabinet doors. Another child development phase comes to a close, and we all made it out breathing and looking forward to the next. Miracles never cease.

Anybody need some slighty used cabinet locks?