Climbing Mount Criberest
When I left the kids with Josh this weekend, he came up with a few good ideas on how to improve the routine around here. Yes, I am openly admitting this. Write it down now, MY HUSBAND WAS RIGHT. You might never see that phrase written by me again, so savor it now.
Anyway, one was so awesome I can't even believe it and that is putting her in the swing when she wakes up at 6 a.m. We've done it every day since Saturday and we're getting her to sleep in and it is amazing. I had to wake her up at 9:30 this morning so we could get ready to go to a playdate. She slept until noon for Josh on Saturday and I shook my fist at the sky with insane jealousy when I heard that.
The second was also awesome -- in theory. He said he put Emmie down for the night around 7:30, before Jack. Jack would watch a video while he gave Emmie her bottle and got her settled in bed and it worked well for him. So I tried it tonight. And let me tell you, it was a craptastic experience.
Emmie was screaming from exhaustion around 7 p.m., so I took her upstairs and got her ready for bed and nursed her and put her down in her crib. Where her eyes promptly popped open and she started flailing around. After 15 replacements of the pacifier while I tried to get Jack to clean up his toys and into the bath, I thought she had fallen asleep. Oh but no, she was just houdini-ing out of her swaddle blanket and started yelling again.
Since Jack was in his pajamas, but we hadn't yet read "Goodnight Moon," I put him in his crib and told him I would be right back to read his book. I went in to tend to She Who Has A Future As A Magician, re-swaddling and sticking the pacifier back in her yapper. While I was gone for that two minutes, I could hear Jack wailing as if I had threatened to make him wear a New Kids On The Block T-shirt to the playground.
I entered his room to see one leg over the top and his body perched precariously on the top of the crib rail, teetering between falling back in or falling out. I grabbed him and told him he should never, ever do that again because it's dangerous and he could fall.
He was sobbing outwardly and I was sobbing inwardly because NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! He is not allowed to be climbing out of his crib. He loves his crib. I love his crib. He's contained and we don't have to worry about any wandering toddlers in the middle of the night and my God, I am having heart palpitations just thinking about naptime and the amount of times he would get out of a big boy bed.
I am going to pretend his little mountain climbing expedition was a result of being really pissed off and the light being on. I don't think he would attempt this feat in the pitch-blackness of night. I'm going to keep on telling myself this and invest in a crib tent.
Anyway, one was so awesome I can't even believe it and that is putting her in the swing when she wakes up at 6 a.m. We've done it every day since Saturday and we're getting her to sleep in and it is amazing. I had to wake her up at 9:30 this morning so we could get ready to go to a playdate. She slept until noon for Josh on Saturday and I shook my fist at the sky with insane jealousy when I heard that.
The second was also awesome -- in theory. He said he put Emmie down for the night around 7:30, before Jack. Jack would watch a video while he gave Emmie her bottle and got her settled in bed and it worked well for him. So I tried it tonight. And let me tell you, it was a craptastic experience.
Emmie was screaming from exhaustion around 7 p.m., so I took her upstairs and got her ready for bed and nursed her and put her down in her crib. Where her eyes promptly popped open and she started flailing around. After 15 replacements of the pacifier while I tried to get Jack to clean up his toys and into the bath, I thought she had fallen asleep. Oh but no, she was just houdini-ing out of her swaddle blanket and started yelling again.
Since Jack was in his pajamas, but we hadn't yet read "Goodnight Moon," I put him in his crib and told him I would be right back to read his book. I went in to tend to She Who Has A Future As A Magician, re-swaddling and sticking the pacifier back in her yapper. While I was gone for that two minutes, I could hear Jack wailing as if I had threatened to make him wear a New Kids On The Block T-shirt to the playground.
I entered his room to see one leg over the top and his body perched precariously on the top of the crib rail, teetering between falling back in or falling out. I grabbed him and told him he should never, ever do that again because it's dangerous and he could fall.
He was sobbing outwardly and I was sobbing inwardly because NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! He is not allowed to be climbing out of his crib. He loves his crib. I love his crib. He's contained and we don't have to worry about any wandering toddlers in the middle of the night and my God, I am having heart palpitations just thinking about naptime and the amount of times he would get out of a big boy bed.
I am going to pretend his little mountain climbing expedition was a result of being really pissed off and the light being on. I don't think he would attempt this feat in the pitch-blackness of night. I'm going to keep on telling myself this and invest in a crib tent.
posted by Amy at
9:55 PM
5 Comments:
According to my MIL, my husband would get out of his crib and go to his parents room where he would wake one of them up...he always got in trouble since he was supposed to be in his crib. Eventually he figured out that if he could get out of his crib, sleep on the floor of his parents' room, and get back in his crib before they woke up, then he wouldn't get in trouble.
That went on for a while until they finally broke down and got him a big boy bed.
I'm so glad that I'm not the only one who had a panic attack thinking about moving the two year old out of the crib!
The first week was rough...he would get up in the middle of the night and stand in the hallway and cry for daddy. Naps were terrible. I'd have to sit in his room for sometimes 30 minutes and pat his back until he fell asleep. Not good when baby is screaming in the next room because she's hungry!
So, we finally came upon a great solution: the baby gate fits perfectly in his doorway. He's contained and the door to his room can be open; and in two months, he has yet to break the gate or figure out how to open it!
He's having to relearn how to go to sleep on his own, but that will come...hopefully!
ooh no. The beginning of the end. I would just bite the bullet and transition him. My daughter climbed out of the crib at 19months and has been in her toddler bed since. It took a few days to adjust. It's that or wait and listen for the "thud" sound.
or, you could do what my friends did...drill an extra set of holes in the crib legs and lower the mattress so that he can't reach to climb out!
I found my son in the same position at 18 months... 2 weeks after our twins came home. I'm pretty sure it was just to express his pissed-off-ness at the new arrivals.
The toddler bed really hasn't changed things much. He gets up a few times a night, but never strays farther than a foot from his bed. I did get a retractable baby gate for across his doorway to keep safe. But we usually just shut his door when it's bed time since we have the video monitor.
Naps are a little more interesting. It can take him an hour to fall asleep sometimes because he keeps getting in and out of bed. But he never cries or complains and usually falls asleep.
Just make sure his room is toddler proofed & he'll be fine. :)
(Long time reader but this is my first time commenting. Hi!)
-Cindy
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home