A couple of weeks ago, Tom and I spent three hours in the boys room cleaning it up. Of course, this also meant the big toy purge was happening. We were able to clean out a bunch of toys that will be going to consignment for the spring. Their room now has a much more manageable amount of toys in it.
With the newly cleaned room that they can actually move in, both boys have plenty of space to play. The boys love going up to their room to play, but that often leads to arguments about someone playing with toys that the other one wants. Every now and then, there is complete silence from their room. If you’re a parent, you know how scary silence can be, especially with little ones. The minute you start heading up the stairs to see what they’re doing, they know. The noise picks up and they stop doing whatever it was they were doing, be it good or bad. This is what I find when I come upstairs.
You have to love the immediate running away from Charlie’s LEGO area, as though he wasn’t doing anything. When Charlie’s at school, Owen thinks he can get away with playing there all by himself. The problem though? Owen is 2, which means Owen will absolutely take all of Charlie’s creations apart. This does not go over well.
When we cleaned up their room, we installed a new video monitor. The VTech Safe&Sound® VM343 is able to be wall-mounted, which is perfect for us because there is nothing in their room to sit it on. And, even if there was, the boys would mess with it out of curiosity.
Last week when Charlie was at school, I caught Owen playing at Charlie’s table. I hit the TALK button on my monitor and said “Owen… those are Charlie’s”. He slowly backed away and looked towards the door. Nope! Mom’s not at the door, but she does see what you are doing!
When Charlie is home though, I love being able to use my extra eye and see them playing so nicely together. It does happen! I’ve seen it on camera!
It did take us some time to decide where to mount it in their room. The VM343 pans up to 270 degrees side-to-side and tilts as many as 120 degrees up and down! That is quite a view! Tom moved the monitor several places in their room and I would tilt and pan as far as I could in all directions to see which position in the room gave me the views I needed.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BBQdsOQmCf7/?taken-by=mymessymiracles
Video monitors started to really become popular when Charlie was a baby. We decided not to get one then, but I do love it now! I can see what the boys are doing while I’m doing other things around the house.
With 1,000 feet of range, I’m able to be just about anywhere in the house and still know what is going on up there. Our kitchen is right below the boys room, so we often hear thumping and random noises that sound like there is a battle going on up there. Before we had the video monitor, I would have to stop what I’m doing (usually while tending to dinner) and go to the bottom of the stairs to yell up asking what is going on. Now, I can hit a button on the handheld monitor and talk to them without ever leaving the kitchen. How awesome is that?!?
As moms, we lead our children to believe that we have eyes in the back of our heads and can see everything. In all honesty, I have no idea what’s going on up there. With the new video baby monitor, I really do have an extra eye in the room! So far, it has kept Charlie in his bed when he’s supposed to be going to sleep, it has kept toys picked up, and it’s given me the peace of mind that the boys are safe when I hear a loud boom (and know it’s just a toy being thrown and not a child).
Do you have a video monitor?
I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.
HarleenSahani says
It is one of the best way to take care of children, especially needed in home where twin babies are there