Screen Surfing

Our air conditioner is on the fritz, a whole other story, and I opened the windows in the house a couple of days ago to cool it off. As I was going around opening all of the windows, I started thinking about how the last time we had them all open was last spring, before Brady began walking. At the first window, the following thought immediately enters my head:

1. A lot of the windows in our house are pretty low, the bottom being only about 6" above the floor - a major selling point for me when we bought the house, but that was pre-Brady. If one of these screens is loose, he could walk/fall out of the house.

I check the screen, it appears to be attached as well as any vinyl window screen would be. I move onto the next window, and the thoughts resume:

2. I wonder if they make extra sturdy child proof screens. Probably not. A guess bars over the windows would be an option. Yeah, our neighbors would really appreciate that.

3. At least the low windows in our house are pretty much at ground level to the outside. If he fell out, he wouldn't have far to go.

4. Surely he won't mess with the windows.

5. I should put something in front of them to act as a barrier.

Meanwhile, as these thoughts are racing through my head, I turn around from opening the second window to see that Brady has zeroed in on the first open window and has begun to test the screen's "springiness" by pretty much throwing his whole weight into it. Much like the previously mentioned chicken skin incident, I don't quite get there in time to keep him from popping the screen out and falling half way out onto the porch. Fortunately, the drop is only about 6 inches and the screen angled down from the window to the porch creating a nice cushion/trampoline effect. My first thought after making sure he wasn't hurt, "Geez, Captain Destructo..." Brady on the other hand thought the whole ordeal was quite fun.

By the way, a piano bench makes an excellent window guard for a 14 month old.