In this sentence – "Mom, you should put some of your things away. Baby proof this house," stated our oldest son Mark as he lumbered up the stairs followed by his wife, Kim, and fifteen-month-old Hannah – what does "baby proof this house" mean? And the phrase "lumbered up"?
My comments:
The easier part first. When someone lumbers, he walks heavily, as though his legs were clumsy trunks of wood. Lumber is the log of a tree.
As for "baby proof the house", that's proof working as a suffix. Baby-proof, actually (best with a hyphen if it's a newly coined combination but a lot of people do simply write these things as one word – babyproof – or two words – baby proof).
To baby-proof the house means to make sure the baby won't mess up the room. Mark's suggestion being: Mom, you should put some of your things away so that the baby won't have anything to play with (and hence mess up with). Babies being babies, they mess things up. That's not a fault. That's just them being themselves and having fun.
Anyways, proof as a suffix means something is resistant to or able to withstand harm. I'll give you many examples for you to have a fuller idea.
You've heard of waterproof watches, haven't you? A waterproof wristwatch, for example, is fully protected from water and allows you to go swimming with one.
Similarly, in a weatherproof coat, you may walk in the rain. In fact, I came to work in a weatherproof overcoat today, while braving the early morning drizzle.
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