Baby Gate: Summer Infant Sure and Secure Custom Fit Gate

One year ago we were on a hut for a solution of keeping our newly walking toddler from getting into the cat food in the kitchen. Also we wanted to be able to maintain him in a secure baby safe space.
We didn't think there was anything out there that would work for us. Our space we wanted to block off is an awkward shaped great room. The photo below is a picture from before we moved in.

After initial looking we decided on buying a few sets of the linking gates that can form a circle. We thought we could set up 2 sets, one to block the kitchen and one to block the front door opening. So off to Babies R Us to see what they had. That's when I found the Summer Infant Sure and Secure Custom Fit Gate. 
It expands to fit your space and if your space is still larger than it expands, you can combine 2 of them or they have expandable pieces sold separably too. It mount to the wall. We only about one full set and it spreads our space and has a few inches to spare still.

It has been great. Over the past year, we've loved that we have, we get comments all the time that people didn't know such things exist when they see it. Also it is removable at anytime. We recently had a party at our home and didn't want to impede the flow of traffic so we took it down. The mounts can stay or be removed as needed. For the party we left the mounts but completely removed the blockade. It folds up to a tidy little square and went under our couch for the party. After the party we pulled it right back out and put it back in place. So easy one adult and easily do it on their own. It has taken so much abuse from our toddler but its holding strong. It makes my philosophy on parenthood- controlled chaos, actually possible.

We are so grateful that we found a gate that fit our needs.

Learning Curve Sippy Cups

Learning Curve Sippy cups
We have graduated pass the bottles and on to sippy cups. I would have loved to take the step to the normal cup, but my 15 month old hasn't learned how to not make a mess, and not play with liquids. So sippy cups it is. 
We've tried a number of brands. So just aren't "spill-proof" like they say and others are so "spill-proof" that my son can't seem to get anything out of them no matter how hard he tries. 
The brand that seems to be the best, for us, for both are the Learning Curve brand. They have a rubber closure in the plastic nipple space that keeps it from spilling, but also allows a suction to flow. There is also a pressure hold opposite the nibble, for air flow that is also rubber. Its rare this sippy drips, and my son has no problems drinking it.
It comes in all sorts of character prints: Sesame Street, Toy Story, Disney Princesses, and others. I'm not a big character promoter, they do have some plain colored cups but everywhere I looked those cups where more expensive than the character prints. Well at least I don't have to pay more for the copyrighted prints.