Coffee table or death trap, you be the judge...

And so it starts. No, he's not walking yet. Heck, he still gets fussy doing tummy time. But from all accounts, at any given moment, Archer is going to become our little Tasmanian devil - whirling around the house, causing destruction and chaos in his path... and I'm on a constant watch for this. Actually, since my doctor told me very firmly at our last appointment, at this point, not to leave Archer unattended for even a second...


Really, a second?




So I sit there and I watch for something to happen... like watching water trying to boil. I get all excited and nervous if he starts rolling to one side. And when I hold him up and I can feel the brute strength in his legs (brute, I tell you, brute), I know it's gong to be any minute now when our lives will change forever.


Again.



Man, it's hard for a girl to keep up with all of this!


And I also know that as soon as this happens - when Archer starts rolling and crawling and standing (hey, maybe he'll be doing that baby Beyonce dancing soon), that *very soon after that, my hubby and I will have to say adieu to our beloved coffee table.

A beloved coffee table? Isn't that a bit much?No, in our case, it is not. People, it took us forever to find this table... well, for under one meelion dollars anyway. You'd think finding a glass square coffee table with stainless legs would be pretty straightforward. Nope. We were on the look out for almost 2 years (you have waaaay too much spare time pre-kids) when we finally landed on this one which was perfect and under $500. And so, we bonded with it big time. Don't judge.

But now, as quickly as it came into our lives, it will temporarily go out of our lives. Are all the seasoned parents laughing at me saying "temporarily"? We will be able to eventually put this back in our living room, no? Anyone? I'm living a lie, aren't I?

But temporary or not, it has to go. The edges of the table are as sharp as knives and, I don't know, call me crazy, but glass and babies just doesn't seem smart to me.

So, what to replace the death trap with?

I toyed awhile with trying to find something uber cool and '"safe-ish. I say safe-ish because I tried to convince myself that we didn't need to go 100% baby-friendly - that Archer has to learn how to be safe too and how to respect mom and dad's stuff... but then I thought again and decided that probably learning how to control and acquire large motor skills was enough of a challenge for him for now.


But if your kids are a little older, I might try something like this Eames coffee table. For a real Eames, it's not the cheapest table you can find (around $850) but it's an investment piece and you'll have it forever.


You can find tables like this on Craigslist if you keep on it. I found this one for only $350.






But even this one is probably not safe enough for my little guy at this point in his life. One wrong conk on the head on this table and well... I don't even wanna go there!


Really, the safest you can get by way of the coffee table is the combination coffee table/ottoman.



I *really hesitated going this way because it seems so obvious and I hate obvious. But as you learn with all things baby there are reasons all of those who came before you got the Fisher Price Chair, or the silly baby t-shirts, or the coffee table/ottoman. It's because they're tried, tested and true. Don't fight it. It is what it is.


But do you have to sacrifice style? Never, downtown mamas!



And I knew we'd be ok on a recent visit to Crate & Barrel when we saw this option. A beautiful putty leather bench which would act as a perfect coffee table. But at $1300 it's too much and I would really prefer a square ottoman which is why we've finally settled on this great ultrasuede charcoal houndstooth ottoman (featured in another color in this pic) at Pottery Barn's modern sister store West Elm. At just over $400 I don't feel like we'll be breaking the bank but the dimensions are right and it works with what we have. If we put the silver tray on the ottoman (which is featured on the first picture and can also be found at West Elm) we'll have lots of places to put all of Archer's toys, and soothers, and books... I mean, crystal wine glasses and fresh cut flowers.


Yeah, right.