Z's busy board

remember awhile back when i made z a busy board?

  well, he sometimes plays with it but not as much as i had hoped and i think partly it had to do with the fact that some of the latches and locks were just a little too advanced for him yet. but, we continues to show him how to work the latches and stuff hoping that he would be more into it a little later. but i always had in mind that i would add things to it gradually. so after some time observing what things z likes to play with and get into, i had a plan, picked up some things and pimped out his board. i added a push led light (he looooooves lights and flashlights so i knew this would be a hit), one of those springy door stoppers (he plays with the ones at home all the time), a padlock and keys, some carabiners, a door knocker (every time we come up to the front door he wants to knock it and says "knocka knocka"), and i reconfigured the chains. 

then i hung it on the wall in his activity corner. that's another thing, i knew that his activity corner would be a changing, evolving space based on his growth and maturing interests. actually i am trying to rearrange the living room in a way that will be less stressful. what i mean is to make it more baby proofed and less tempting for him to get into the things that we don't want him to. currently, the weak points are the tv (turn off, turn on, try to touch the screen), the floor lamps (shake shake shake the hell out of them until they fall apart and the lightbulbs threaten to explode!), the fireplace (can't use it while he is awake because we don't want him to burn himself and he plays with the knobs and stuff on it), and the end table (he tries to pull everything off of it including the lamp and tries to shake it). so some days he is all about ignoring his toys and going after these weak points over and over from the tv to the lamps to the fireplace over and over and it is just too stressful. and i am getting tired of saying no to him all the time. my goal is to make the living room safe, cozy, somewhat nice looking and functional for everyone in our family. anyway, part of that is making his activity corner super fun so that he wants to push the tv over less frequently. anyway, i really liked the alligator mirror that was in his corner and he did, too, but after several attempts, there was no way to hang that thing on the wall in a way that would withstand his pulling. he would find an edge and tug over and over until the entire thing would start to come down, even to the point of the nails pulling out. so after that happened i finally just came to the decision that this isn't working, it's causing stress. so i moved it and hung the busy board in it's place. and i plan on hanging a little Velcro board and a felt board in that space, too. anyway, ramble ramble ramble. that's the story with the busy board. and he really likes it especially the door stopper and the light. he has been playing with it more and it seems more accessible hanging on the wall than laying on the floor.