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Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Good Night...Not a Chance

Branson turned two in November but I am all for keeping my toddlers in a crib for as long as possible. Why rush fighting them to "stay in bed" when you can plop them behind bars and off to sleep they go?

We went out of town this weekend and while we were staying in the hotel we used a Pac-n-Play for Branson. The short sides couldn't hold him and he climbed out immediately after we put him in. On our drive home I laughed and said "Hey John, you don't think this will give him the notion that he can climb out of his crib?"

Fast forward several hours later. Two seconds after placing Branson in his crib he was hanging precariously onto the top rail...both legs straddling the bed post. I stood there closely to see what he would do, all the while saying, "Branson, no no you will fall down and get bad owies." (Yeah right mom.) I had to see what he would do because I didn't want to have him try getting out later when I wasn't around. He successfully and rather gracefully dropped to the ground, landing on two feet. With a gigantic smile on his face he ran down the hall. I put him back in his crib and he repeated his acrobatic moves only to cut his escape time by half. None of my kids have ever climbed out of the crib. I'm older now! I need my sleep! So with my youngest brother in need of a crib and worries that Branson would fall and get hurt we did the unthinkable...

We brought in the toddler bed. And thus began the battle...the long "stay in bed" "get back in bed" "mommy will only lay down with you for a minute" battle. And the past two mornings...his bed has looked like this. Empty. And where oh where is Branson? Where did he disappear to in the middle of the night?



16 comments:

Em and Ms said...

Oh I'm sorry! We thought Madelyn learned to climb out, but then realized she was using her bookcase to climb onto and then down. Moved that 6 inches and problem solved! Good luck with the transition!

Robin Beck said...

All my kids climbed out of the crib. They all ended up in one bed together for over a year.

Ronnie never put Noelle in her crib (can you believe that?) She kept Noelle in bed with her. Now when she lays her down at night or for her naps Noelle cries for 2 minutes and falls asleep but never tries to get out of bed. We will be getting her a princess bed of her own soon-I'm sure she will end up in bed with mommy though!

I sure hope you get some rest!
He is growing up so fast!
Robin~♥

Ben and Alissa said...

Katie still hasn't even thought about climbing out of her crib. If she knew she could I know she would be out in a second.

I'm not looking forward to the "stay in your bed" "stay in your room" game after Katie's in a big bed, whenever that happens. Only because she's our first and we don't have experience with the whole thing. I'm sure we'll, and hopefully Katie, will figure it out.

But we have no plans to move her yet. Hope you all get enough sleep!

Heidi D said...

Behind bars. :)

Sorry to hear about your predicament. I'm still having the same problem with my 9 year old. A few times a week you're guaranteed to see Lindsay sleeping somewhere other than her bed.

Good luck!

SuzanSayz said...

Donald was ELEVEN MONTHS OLD when he first climbed out of his crib. Him being my first I thought that was normal. Then the little stinker wasted no time in showing Heidi how to escape those bars when she was like fifteen months old. Luckily my last three didn't start at anywhere near that young. In fact Courtney seemed to love her crib so much that she was in it until she was close to three and a half.
I hope you win the stay-in-your-bed wars with Branson.

aubrey said...

hee hee hee that is funny!

LKP said...

don't they make a zippered mosquito netting kind thing??? to serve dual purposes of course, especially in the summer? oh, that's frowned upon? dang it. i've been outta the crib vs. toddler bed ordeal for too long apparently since my answer is to stick em in a velcro suit & room. eventually they should fall asleep. THIS is apparently why God hasn't given us anymore then, right? lol.
good luck with it all. we still have the battle with daisy to this day. 80 times a night, "back to bed." anytime seth's out of town, she begs to sleep with me. gotta say, flailing arms & legs suck even worse when they're the same size as mine! =) figured she'd grow out of it, guess not.

Hey Melissa Mae said...

that picture with the big fat arrow just cracked me up. That is our story every night. I am doing the super nanny thing, putting mae back in bed over and over while not saying a word to her. tonight it only lasted a half hour and then she finally got tired of it and stayed in bed. Now i just have to nip the "get in bed with mommy and daddy at 4 in the morning" in the butt.

Mike 'n' Cindy Brinkerhoff said...

Oh man, I am DREADING this phase with Danee... I've never known a more stubborn baby!

Jodi said...

That stage is so tough. It's when nap time always seemed to stop at my house too. I couldn't deal with the battle.

Deborama said...

Avery learned to climb out of her crib in record speed! She never slept again......... hence the "last child".
I love you saying your old and need sleep, I always say I need a good 8.... to 10 hours of uninterupted sleep! :)
I love your photo shoot! Super cute! Oh and my camera is the canon but Im thinking of returning it and getting the new T2I when it comes out. ????

Nicki said...

We had the same problem. Luckily it only took a few nights of the "super nanny" way of sitting in his room ignoring him until he learned mom was still there and the bed wasn't so bad. He sleeps great now:) They do scream and cry at first, but you put them back silently, sit on the floor, don't look and them and wait out the tantrum. It was probably the one and only episode I ever watched.

Alicia Leppert said...

Oh my goodness. I don't envy you. Especially if I was trying to sleep and it was interrupting that sleep...I have NO patience for that. So sorry. But that last picture is hilarious!

Unknown said...

GET A LOCK! i am seriously confused why people think it's child abuse to put a lock on the wrong side of the door. it's so much easier than the super nanny thing though it's easier on the mommy and it's doing the same exact thing. i think it was going through this with sam - on average he would get out of his bed 20 times a night. i wound up in the hall for hours and hours and hours. what is the difference between a lock on the door of their room and a crib? it's just bigger with more stuff for them to play with until they fall asleep on the floor.
granted, i did have to lie with hyrum for the first few nights - and then have to come back in a few times to let him know it was OK. etc etc. i was too afriad of a repeat of sam.
good luck. the is the worst part of toddlerhood. unless you are good with the 'family bed'. which i am NOT. :) if you can't tell. boy, was this a soap box post. good luck!!!

cazmom said...

Ha Ha Ha! I love this guy and I haven't even met him!

cazmom said...

Ha Ha Ha! I love this guy and I haven't even met him!