Wednesday, January 21, 2009

How To Keep a 22-month-old in Her Crib

Also titled, "Did You Know They Make Crib Tents?"

Sorry it's been so long. A lot has happened around here. I think I'll tell one little story and then show a bunch of pictures.

Last Thursday, for some unknown reason, Erin decided she wasn't going to be a good little sleeper anymore. She woke up around 11:30 and refused to go back to sleep without screaming every time I left the room. Ordinarily I would just let her cry herself back to sleep. On this night however, I went back to bed and heard a loud THUD. Darnit if the kid hadn't figured out how to swing her little leg over the crib rail and fall to the wood floor below. Most kids wouldn't try it again after learning how painful a fall is, but my Erin is a stubborn one and not disuaded by a little pain - she tried again.

Thus began 3 nights of at least 2 hours awake, half-sleep while keeping an ear open for the inevitable thud, and eventually Mommy sleeping on the floor in Erin's room.

On Sunday I was so tired that in my sleep-induced stupor I Googled "toddler climbing out of bed." My goodness, what a wealth of opinions! I weeded it down to 2 main camps: those who say it is time to move to a toddler bed and those who recommend a crib tent. Automatically deciding that we are definitely NOT ready for a bed (and the sleeping with her that unquestionably follows when she won't stay in bed by herself), I then searched around for crib tents. Monday we went to Babies R Us and are now $70 poorer but well rested. Money well spent, I say. And cheaper than a midnight ER visit.


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And here are a few pictures to show you what we've been up to when we're not trying to stay warm. It's COLD here, did I mention that?

My wonderful, strange children

I got a new coffee maker. Luke got a new Boxy.
He dressed it up with his shoes and new "Superhero" hat.

I tried to FreeCycle some old 35mm cameras but before they could get picked up they were grabbed as the new fun toy of the week.

It's more fun to read on a pulled-out trundle bed. Sitting on chairs.

We watched the inauguration. Did I say it was cold here?

4 comments:

MLE said...

Looks like you're having a lot of fun! It's been cold here too, though I think some "warmer" temps are on the way -- like 40 tomorrow! I tried to show my kids the inaguaration, but CNN live kept freezing due to volume I assume and we don't have tvs available at school that can actually get a picture. It would have been interesting to be part of that crowd!

Hope the good times keep rolling -- your kids may be strange, but I love their creativity!

Gayle and Rob said...

Whoa! The ups & downs of parenting, eh? Glad you found a safe solution that keeps you both in bed! I especially liked the Boxy Luke picture -- sort of a Star Wars look to it...C3LukEO. Speaking of cold, we're looking at a hard freeze in Central Florida tonight. I think we'll be down to 26 or 27 by tomorrow morning. I turned off the irrigation system tonight; Thursday morning is one of our 2 days to water the grass and would hurt the plants & grass. I expect that we'll have some damage to plants. Certainly not as cold as you've had things (or Emily) but for once, the 5th graders will be correct when they come in tomorrow morning & say, "It's freezing!" By the way, my room never got above 62 degrees yesterday. I guess that the cost cutting measures FPCO has put into effect begin on 3rd floor Allen Hall!

Callie said...

Your kids are so cute! The crib tent looks like a great idea. I don't know if we're ready for a toddler bed yet, so I may look into the tent.

Kim Tracy Prince said...

Katie,
Love the pictures. Keep 'em coming.

For non-logo'd or commercial superhero costumes, see littlecapers.com. We have them and the kids love them!