BIG mentioned that lexan and plexiglass are very different, and, in our
experience, that's definitely been true.
 
even when gabriel's nails are trimmed and a little dulled, he can put a
mean scratch into anything.  we found that he could put scratches into
the plexiglass, and little shreds of the plexiglass would come right off.
since we didn't want them ingesting anything that they shouldn't, or
making a wreck of what was s'posed to be a barrier, we opted for lexan.
it's considerably more expensive, but well worth the cost.
 
we never built a frame or anything for our lexan.  it bends quite nicely
but strongly, so we bend it with the curve facing in towards the room, so
that the fuzzies can't just push it down.  we bought the precut size that
was one larger than the size of our doorway.  we've had our 2 pieces of
lexan 5 years, almost as long as we've had our kids.
 
i think the funniest thing, next to watching them scratch at the lexan
and get nowhere, was watching them bump into the clear barrier for the
first 5 mins.  after we stopped laughing and could breath again, we
scribbled a few black wavy lines on the bottom, so they could tell it
was there.  we love those critters, but they can't see well, and, well,
gabriel's just not so bright, anyway.
 
just my 2 cents,
 
andrea & the somerville dynamic duo
gabriel - *bonk* "huh?" *bonk* "whu?!" *bonk* "hrm?" *bonk*
lucy - "he's my brother, and i love him, but he's dense as cheesecake."
[Posted in FML issue 3985]