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Family
Why I Cut a Hole in Our Baby’s Room Wall
At first, I wasn’t sure that my wife would agree, but she did.
We moved into our first house in the summer of 1973. We had a new baby on the way; she would join us and her older sister in September of that year.
We had plans to construct rooms for both girls in the unfinished attic, but that was still in progress. The front of our house was divided into two rooms, a living room and a small bedroom. We decided that room would be ours and where we’d put the crib. There was a larger bedroom behind it for our older daughter. This would work until the upstairs construction finished.
I don’t know if there was such a thing as a baby monitor in 1973. If there was, it would have been sound only and might have been pricey. We didn’t want to spend extra money because of the construction expenses, but we wanted to be able to keep an eye on our baby.
I suggested cutting a hole in the wall.
That sounds batty, doesn’t it? But it requires no power, and we could see and hear whatever she was doing in her crib. We wouldn’t have to disturb her by opening the bedroom door; we could peek in on her without making a sound. A piece of cloth on the living room side kept light out and muffled living room noise.
There was one final thing that sealed the deal. When we finished the upstairs, we planned to tear down that wall and create a larger dining room/living room. So, as ugly and crude as a hole in the wall was, it would be temporary.
I had forgotten the hole until I came across this picture in one of our old albums.
