T has been able to climb into Amelia’s crib for a while now. For whatever reason she doesn’t do it often and she hasn’t been able to get out on her own. We caught her on video doing it one day with our baby sitter who was supposed to find her playing in the crib after going to look for her. When that happened we knew our days of having a crib for T were numbered. Over the summer we were at my in laws and T climbed out of the pack and play and it was very challenging to get her to sleep now that she knew how to get free. When that happened we knew she would get out of her crib soon. Surprisingly more months went by and T was happy in her crib. She would climb into Amelia’s crib sometimes but typically would just say “uppie” her word for up please when she wanted to go into the crib. Oddly I would see her trying to climb into her crib every now and again but I don’t recall her ever getting in on her own. MC and I didn’t complain because having her in a crib was much easier than the alternative of a free range toddler once she got a toddler bed.
Flash forward to last Saturday (24-January) I walked into the girls room to let T out after a time out. Her room is typically her time out location since we can close the door and let her get some alone time. I opened the door and to my surprise I see T horozontal holding on to the top of her crib. Her leg was caught between the bars of the crib and she was about to fall. I grabbed her and got her down. At that moment I thought ok, she has outgrown her crib. I went to the video to see what she was doing prior to me walking in. I saw that she had actually climbed into the crib and was playing around and then got stuck as she was climbing out. That sealed the decision that T needed a bed and not a crib. My sister told me once the story of how my oldest niece got out of her crib and the recounted how she did it. At that moment my sister knew it was time for a bed and got one that day. I had a feeling for a while I would have the same revolution one day and that day was yesterday. Luckily the cribs that my mom bought for us are convertible into toddler beds. Before nap time we got some allen wrenches and took off the front crib bars. It was surprisingly easy to do. We then rolled up a towel and put it under the bed sheets by the open end of the bed. We read that this should help prevent T from rolling out of the bed. We then got her a pillow. T was excited for her new bed.
Excitement didn’t get her to nap in the bed though. As expected she ran around a bit but didn’t nap. We took her out after an hour. At bedtime she didn’t wander around that much and eventually went to bed. It wasn’t too bad but i think she was tired from not napping.
This week she did nap most days. There were a few nights where she would be calling us at the door before she went down to sleep but so far not any outrageous drama. We are thankful for that but T is generally good. A on the other hand I don’t know what to expect but we have hopefully a year to go with her before we find out.