I worked from home for awhile when my two were little.
I had my office at the end of the hall. I put one baby gate at the other end of the hall, one at my office door so he couldn't come in, outlet covers in the plug ins, door knob covers on the other closed doors: it was like a giant play pen in which I put out toys for my son. I am a safety FREAK so I cannot adequately express how careful I was (examining the carpet for anything he could put in his mouth, checking the toys for loose parts, etc).
DD meanwhile sat happily (and quietly) in a high chair in my office drawing and colouring. She was about 3 and didn't need the chair, but I didn't have a desk for her and the tray worked really well. DS in the hall, meanwhile, was about 1 1/2.
It worked for awhile until DS outgrew his "playpen." Then I had to quit... only because it was a telephone job and he got really noisy in the end when he was perpetually bored. If it was anything else I think I could have continued.
Do you have a large area like this that you could safely gate off for your daughter? My son loved the relative freedom, and was able to enjoy the volume of toys without being overwhelmed. Sometimes when he started getting bored I would switch out some of the toys.
Last edited by CCN; 09/04/12 09:58 PM.
