Well, it finally happened. The moment I’ve been dreading for 2.5 years. I’m actually watching it unfold for the millionth time over the baby monitor as I type this.
He learned to climb out of his crib.
It just happened out of the blue one morning. I woke up around 8 (Liam usually wakes up between 8 and 8:30) and went out to the living room. His bedroom door was closed like it always is when he sleeps, so I didn’t think a thing of it. I entered the living room and had a cross between a heart attack and a reflex to kick some arse, because some man was sitting on our couch.
Except that man was 37 inches tall, wearing firetruck pajamas, and playing some cop game on the iPad, totally ignoring me.
With no prior practice or warning, he had climbed out of his bed, shut the door behind him and gone out to play games by himself. That afternoon he climbed out of his crib 4 times and after the fourth time of me saying “No. Go to sleep.” he finally gave in and took a nap. That was a month or so ago and he didn’t try to climb out again after that till Saturday. Saturday he was napping as usual and a couple came by to buy a stroller I had listed on Craigslist. Liam came walking out of his room like it was no big deal, handed the guy his sock, and climbed up in the kitchen chair demanding a snack. From that day on, it has been a battle of the wills. Last night he climbed out of his crib twice at bedtime, the first time catching me eating cake and freaking out that I had kept it a secret and waited till he was in his cage to eat it. This morning I woke up in bed, opened my eyes, and noticed that I had his pillow, Elmo, and 7 cloth diapers piled on my back. Apparently the Escape Artist Fairy had visited me in my sleep before heading to the living room to catch bad guys on the iPad.
As I write this he is standing in his crib, one leg flung over the side, yelling “I WILL get out Mama! I WILL!!”.
I know the solution is to buy him a big boy bed. Which we are, in a few weeks when our tax return comes through. He’s getting the Kura bed from Ikea so I’m hoping the cool factor will help him stay in it. But basically my heart sinks because I know a bed is just going to increase our battles. His crib has been my haven for 2 years. A place I can put him where he can’t get me. He is the most demanding, loud, intense child I have ever met, and the idea of no longer having a place where he lays down quietly and goes to sleep frightens me. Yes, I could put a gate in his doorway but he will just scream on the other side of it and that doesn’t grant me any breaks. It just fries my nerves.
So to the next milestone we go. Bye Bye Crib, Hello Big Boy Bed. Transitions. It’s all about transitions. This whole thing reminds me of car seats. You know the whole, “Each step forward is a step back in safety”? For us it’s, “Each transition forward is a step back in my sanity.”
Just wait. As soon as my eyes open, I will make a break for it.
We share the same bedroom. Our big bed lies adjacent to my child’s crib, with only her bed rail in between.
While all my friends moved their children to toddler bed at 1 prompt, I never did – I can’t imagine my child running down the cot when she didn’t want to sleep.
Then after several incidents of her getting out of the crib and down on the floor, we removed the 1 bed rail and now she can freely roll in our bed too.
But since then whenever I slept my head has been repeatedly kicked by her! Oh no
Nah, 4 ft tall ex-pen with the top added. Cam locks will take him longer to open too. 😉
I love the “Each transition forward is a step back in my sanity.” But you will have a mommy guilt trip for him someday that totally trumps the “I carried you for nine (ten) months!”
He sounds like a pretty awesome kiddo though. 🙂
Forget the dog crate, go for the 4 ft. tall ex-pen with the top added. The ones with cam locks will take him longer to open too. I love the “Each transition forward is a step back in my sanity.” It is so true! But just think of the guilt trip you will be able to use later! Totally trumps the “I carried you for nine (ten) months” guilt trip. And from the mom (and aunt) of some pretty intense kids, they do grow into some amazing people, even more than they already are. 😉
Extra-large dog crate?
I feel for you. That transition time provided some of my most unpleasant memories from my ds’s little years. We lost the battle, but won the war, because he’s been an awesome sleeper ever since!
You may want the gate in the door at night anyway. At least you will know he is up when he screams. My 2.5 yr old grandson learned to crawl out of the crib a few months ago (at home, he hasn’t tried it at my house yet). DD woke one morning to find 18 eggs broken in a path between the kitchen and the TV, where a bowl was waiting on the floor. Of course the carpet had just been cleaned a month before. She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, because she was the one who forgot to fasten the fridge lock before she went to bed. Good luck with this new, big boy, stage.
That is hilarious!
Good luck with the big boy bed. If you do end up using a baby gate on the door, be sure to get a tall one with vertical rails only. The crosshatch ones can, uh, be climbed. Although if he climbed out of a crib with vertical slats, I suppose it’s possible he could scale a baby gate too…
We have that bed for Laine. She loves it.