Rookie Dad: I'm a prisoner

It's official. We've finally walled off the living room. No, it's not my own recreation of the Berlin wall. It's actually more of a gate. In fact. it is actually a gate. One of two gates the we will eventually have in place to keep The Youngling from ending up stuck behind the dryer way out in the laundry room if one of us turns our head for a second or two.

Even though she is still in army crawl mode, The Youngling can really move. Just yesterday as I stood at the bottom of the backs steps of our house, after placing the little girl far away in the living room, she had made her way through about forty feet of house and was tapping her tiny hands against the screen door wondering what was taking me so long. I just turned my head and said, as if she could understand me, that the sweet corn doesn't husk itself.

These are the battles that occupy a weekend in our house. On a more proud note, after over nine months I finally gave The Youngling a bath all by myself. She didn't scream, she didn't attempt to drown herself and she came out at least somewhat clean - all without using the tub as a toilet.
Now if I can just find a gate to span the ultra-wide entry way in to the living room The Youngling will finally be contained - for a few weeks.