:: Babyproofing: The Dish Saga ::

We live in a condo. This, by definition I think, means that we do not have enough cupboard space. Enter the really tall really skinny seven-shelf bookcase we bought when we got married:



Those are our everyday dishes plus some serving things, wine glasses, etc. They don't fit anywhere else.

This is a problem with an 8- going on 12-month-old baby who the doctor recently referred to as Paul Bunyan. The shelves are secured to the wall at the top, so we're fairly confident that he won't be able to pull the whole thing over. But clearly a pile of porcelain dishes within the aforementioned big-strong-kid's reach isn't going to win us a prize for least number of broken things/baby injuries/tears shed by mommy/money spent on new dishes.

So... I cleared the bottom two shelves, hid the dishes away in storage, and have been searching, searching, for baby dishes (real or toy) to put in their place. Dishes without Dora the Explorer on them. Dishes in colors other than light pink (all the great tea sets in existence are light pink) or red-yellow-blue-don't-you-love-primary-colors-ohmygod-please-shoot-me.

Oh, wait. I meant to say affordable dishes without Dora and in appealing colors. Because I've got two shelves to fill, here, people, and much as I would love to just buy these adorable Flora and Fauna plates from Uncommon Goods, I don't think that four little plates (for whom coordinating cups, bowls, etc. don't even exist) will cut it. It's not even like at $30 a pop I could buy a few sets. Look at 'em, though. They're great:



Anyway, I'll actually save you the long story about how ever since January 22nd, I've been scouring the web and repeatedly perusing the same stores over and over again hoping to find new things. I'll also skip the part where I whine a lot.

Cut to last Thursday when we took Evan on his first trip to Wegmans, the grocery store to top all grocery stores and possibly the number two reason we want to move home (if you smash all of our family members up into one reason). Ev and I hit the baby aisle for some baby food reinforcements while Bri went off in search of plastic champagne flutes for our celebration that night. As I waited for him to reappear, colorful plastic plates appeared right before my very eyes. Plates, bowls, cups, kid bowls, even these root beer mugs with straws that I would have killed for when I was a kid.



Score.