The fence in the hallway., originally uploaded by lalagirl.

One of the reasons we waited so long to move Pablo and Mallory into big kid beds (hello, they're four-and-a-half!) was that we didn't want Pablo getting out of bed and wandering around the house. He knows how to unlock/unlatch/open every door in this place, and the safety measures we have in place already are really only buying us a few minutes, since he knows he can drag a chair over to the front door to reach the flippy latch, y'know?

Paul and I spent weeks trying to come up with an idea for blocking off the hallway. We wanted them to be able to get up and use the bathroom, so locking them in their room wouldn't work. I've always loved the adorable fenced-in play area at Lollilocks, and so I suggested right away that we use vinyl fencing.

Paul and I came up with lots more ideas. He wanted something sturdy and semi-permanent. I wanted something that didn't look like total crap, like a framed in wall with unfinished drywall would have looked. Eventually, I got Paul to embrace the idea, and as you can see, it turned out pretty okay! It's not all that ugly. It keeps the kids from leaving the house in the middle of the night. And we'll be able to remove it in a few months/years/whatever and just patch a few holes.

Lickety split.