Oz is 9 months old, and he has free run when we are home. He sleeps in the bed with us at night, and it's too high for him to jump down, so I know he's there all night. We keep him in a playpen during the day. Our house is huge, and not easy to gate off, so I like the playpen. I don't want him feeling like he has to guard the whole place, and I feel that he's safe when we're out at work.
It's possible that as he gets older we may try to let him have run of SOME of the house when we're at work, but definitely it will never be the entire area. Personally, I'd be happy if I could gate off the stairs and just keep him in the entrance-way - it's a big area, it's all tiled, and there's nothing for him to get hurt by. But, even though he's potty trained, I think it'll be a few more months yet before we would trust him totally to not go potty in the house when he's alone.
__________________ David & Denise  ... proud parents of Ozzy  |