The days of Gregor’s cot acting as effective containment are numbered. Given his ability to scale a step-ladder, open the front door, and use a stool to grab that just-out-of-reach bit of cake on the kitchen sideboard, it is only a matter of days before he vaults the top of his cot in a bid for freedom.

Older and wiser parents have advised us to resist taking the sides off the cot for as long as possible, but we believe the time has come, and the prospect of this new-found liberty means that all stairs need to be blocked-off. Of course this only occurred to me after I had dismantled the cot and found myself having to make a quickly improvised baby stair gate.

To do this I screwed two thin strips of wood to the wall to act as retainers, leaving a gap of about 8mm between the strips. I then cut a 6mm mdf sheet to the width and height of the gate I needed and slotted it into place. The next day I cut a face-shaped hole to act as a handle and gave it a couple of coats of chalkboard paint. I also glued a small wooden stationary box to the front for the chalk.

This is an ideal solution for us. It easily lifts out during the day and slots back at night to stop Gregor escaping upstairs. My theory is that Gregor wakes up at 5am, rolls out of bed, toddles through to pester the parents…but wait…what is this on the landing…a chalk board! That’s got to be more exciting than sitting on daddy’s head whiles he’s trying to sleep. Wishful thinking…