(no subject)

[the_rck]

Yesterday, for the first time, Delia climbed out of her crib. I was sitting in the living room, and I heard a heavy thump from her room. I knew it wasn't anything that she had thrown out of the crib, so I had a pretty good idea what I'd find when I walked in. She was between her crib and her dresser and looking pleased with herself. Then she burst into tears. It took quite a while to calm her down, and she kept starting up again every time I put her down. I finally just put her back to bed and left, and she did finally nap.

Now, I've got cushions around that corner of the crib. Scott and I debated trying to pad that corner of her dresser (we're a little afraid that part of her upset yesterday may have come from thumping her head as she came down), but we're not sure if it's a good idea or not. We're currently discussing possible changes in sleeping arrangements. Scott thinks that the crib is supposed to convert into a toddler bed. He's going to take a look this weekend. If it doesn't though, I'd like to replace it with something lower to the ground, something that she can get back into without help.

We're going to have to start keeping her bedroom door closed during naps and at night so that she doesn't wander out when we have the bathroom door open (she likes playing with the water in the toilet, trying to climb into the tub and generally getting into whatever's around) or the safety gates open. I don't like shutting the door, though. It's harder to peek in on her to see how she's doing, and it *feels* wrong because we've never done it before. I suspect that this is mainly a repeat of the anxiety I felt when we moved her to her own room. That made me nervous, too. I was afraid I wouldn't hear her if she was in trouble.

Comments

[adrian-turtle.livejournal.com]

Will a safety gate fit in her bedroom door? When the local preschooler outgrew her crib (*), we took the wooden door out of her doorway and replaced it with a baby gate. When there's noise and light in the rest of the house and we wanted to block it so she would sleep, we tacked a sheet in the doorway as a curtain, but she was usually ok with just the gate. Her room is very safe, but it's 3 feet from the top of the stairs and 4 feet from the bathroom with all its hazards, which more than makes up for the image of a little girl looking at you between bars.

(*) She outgrew the crib with a frightening thump at about 18 months. That night, the crib mattress moved to the floor like a futon. Her father built a little box for it, eventually. Delia might be ok with just the mattress and covers on the floor for a while, especially if you put them in a corner.

[the_rck]

I'm not sure if it would. Probably. I'm not sure I like the solution, though. I have to think about it (If I respond to it now, I'll end up giving you a silly list of reasons that can be dealt with but that give me time to think).

She didn't climb out during her nap today, even though I left the side of the crib on its lowest setting. Instead, she grabbed her bedtime book (a board book) and mutilated it. She's fascinated by peeling and ripping paper. ::sighs::

[clachan.livejournal.com]

This brings back memories! We were alarmed when CF first climbed out of his crib, but we had one of those with removable sides and we took one side off and converted it to a toddler bed.

I can understand your anxiety about not being able to peep in on Delia if you close the door - I think it's probably a fairly normal parental anxiety - but it's hopefully something you'll soon get used to. It didn't take CF long to work out how to open his bedroom door, by the way!!

Sorry this isn't very helpful feedback (feeling really ill at the moment) but I wanted to comment, let you know I've been reading and say hello.

[the_rck]

Actually, hearing other parents talk about their kids doing this and surviving really is helpful. I mean, I know on some level that it's true, that all kids go through this, but on an emotional level-- This is *my* baby, my one and only.

Fortunately, Delia's still too short to reach the doorknobs in our house. I think we've got a little while yet. They're all fairly high up. The bottoms of the knobs are at 40 inches (just right to smack me in the breasts when I'm not careful. I hate being short), and Delia's still not quite 33 inches tall.

[evalerie.livejournal.com]

I still remember climbing out of the crib all by myself for the first time. (I was much older than Delia is.) I felt like the biggest tallest strongest most amazingly capable kid in the world. Plus I was delighted by the adult reactions of complete shock when they found me out wandering around. :)

(As an adult with kids of my own: We never really managed to get either of the kids to sleep *in* a crib in the first place -- though we certainly tried! -- so I don't have any interesting stories of when they started doing the Houdini thing.)

[the_rck]

Hm. Delia burst into tears and then clung to me for quite a while. I'm not sure she was feeling very confident-- I think she realized that what she'd just done changed things. (I was briefly worried that she'd banged herself on her dresser on the way down, but she didn't act like it, and she hasn't bruised, so...) She also hasn't done it again in spite of our leaving the side of the crib down. I'm torn between hoping that she will and hoping that she won't.

I think we'll be changing her bed this weekend. At least, I hope so. We need time for Scott to look the crib over to see if it can be converted and to do whatever work needs to be done.