Table Furniture

My brother inlaw, his girlfriend, their nine month old daughter, his 10-year old daughter from a previous relationship, and his girlfriend’s 13-year old sister came to visit us on Saturday night. When they called I really wasn’t in the mood to be bothered with them, but my husband told them we’d be at home and invited them over so I didn’t want to go against the grain.

My eldest niece usually comes with my inlaws (as she spends a lot of time with them) and she has some behavioral issues. We have just recently started spending more time around the nine month old and although she is as cute as a button she is a terror. She gets into EVERYTHING. She recently started walking so she can really get to where she needs to go. This is only her third time coming to our house but she makes me a nervous wreck.

She goes from one thing to another. From the TV cabinet that we have our flat screen sitting on to the end tables to the coffee table to the kitchen table. Her parents will only get her attention if they feel she’s in danger. I feel she’s putting herself at danger the entire time. We do not have kid friendly furniture at all. Our furniture is very heavy with lots of carvings, solid wood and marble in the living room. We have a rectangular glass table in the kitchen with sharp corners.

We have to leave the doors on the TV stand open in order to change the channel but the little one kept messing with the doors, swiging them back and forth and I was so afraid she was going to smash her fingers. She kept trying to push the buttons on the DVR and the other electronic devices. Her mother finally said something and got up and went to remove her from the area but she eventually made her way back. Then she was crawling on the kitchen floor and I was so afraid she’d bump her head on the glass table.

Me and my brother inlaw’s girlfriend left to go to the store. The two younger kids stayed there with my husband and his brother. When I got back and tried to change the channel it wouldn’t work. I kept trying to figure out what the problem was. Come to find out the little button that clicks between TV, Audio 1, Audio 2, and Satellite had been broken. Instead of clicking between modes the button now just glides across and the remote doesn’t work.

Also, later the baby wasted some of the soda (yes, they give her Mr. Pibb and other sodas) from her sippy cup. It was quite a bit. The 13-year old asked for something to wipe it up with and then the baby threw up in the same spot. They wiped that up. About 30 minutes later she wasted more soda on the carpet and the baby’s mother insisted her 13-year old sister clean that spill up as well. The sister refused. They went back and forth arguing for about three minutes. Nobody made a move so I got up and went over there to see what was on the floor, but I think it was spilled on our rug and had soaked in by then. Needless to say I was very agitated.

My brother inlaw’s girlfriend is 21 and he is 38. She is very immature and thinks it’s cute that her daughter is "so bad" as she calls it. The baby was crawling all onto the couch with her shoes on, playing with her keys and putting them in her mouth. For a minute I was afraid she’d stab the leather sofa with the keys because they really don’t say anything to her until the last minute. It’s almost like they’re exhausted with paying attention to her.

We are actually expecting our first child in four to five weeks. I realize babies are curious and will get into everything, but I have plenty of family members who have little ones and they just don’t let their child go ape wild like that when at others homes.

Am I being unreasonable? The 10-year old’s behavior is another story that I won’t even get into. I admit, I’m not used to being around kids on a regular basis …
Jeni – we will be baby proofing our furniture but exchanging it is not an option at all. We paid quite a bit for it. Again, I realize babies do need to explore but I would never allow my baby to do the things they allow theirs to do at someone elses home. I think what it boils down to is she is so used to do whatever at their house. I have never visited their home but they have shared pictures with us of her climbing on top of their headboard. They think it’s funny. Also, I don’t think they have very much furniture in their apartment so there’s probably lots of room for her to play. Either way, we will do what we can to make it safe for our baby once he starts crawling around (like putting guards on the corners of the tables and installing gates near the kitchen entrances), but this little girl is all over the place … and it’s like they just don’t feel like saying anything until she’s about to bust her skull open on the table.