Adventures in Parenting- Things that Go Bump in the Night

On Friday I mentioned that Ephraim had figured out how to climb out of his crib and get out of his room. I was sure that we were in for trouble over the weekend, but surprisingly Ephraim stayed in his crib.

Right up until last night, that is. You knew it had to happen eventually, right?

Last night we put Ephraim to bed and after a few minutes we heard him opening his bedroom door. So Daddy went and got Ephraim, told him "No, No!" and put him back in bed. After a few minutes he was at it again. This time I went and put him back in bed and told him it was time to go "Night-night" and he needed to stay in bed.

Well, you can probably guess that this went on for about the next half hour or so. Finally Ephraim gave up and had cried so much that he fell asleep. I figured that he would learn to stay in bed when we put him down and then he would just sleep through the night and our problem would be solved.

Not so! At about 4:30 a.m. Joe and I woke up to the sound of little feet on the kitchen floor. Ephraim climbed out of his crib in the middle of the night, opened his door, and was walking around upstairs. How scary is that? Especially since he can open the doors!

So Joe closed the flip latch on the back door and put Ephraim back to bed. Then I spent the next half hour or so putting Ephraim back in bed until he eventually gave up and went back to sleep. I spent the next hour or so listening for the little monkey to make sure he stayed in bed.

Needless to say, I didn't get tons of sleep last night... and neither did Ephraim, which made for a long day. Good thing Jacob got to go to playgroup today. He had a great time, and I got to go shopping for door knob covers in hopes of keeping Ephraim stuck in his room, if not actually in his bed.

By nap time Ephraim was so exhausted that he went to sleep without any problems. Then when Joe got home he took the front railing off the crib so that Ephraim can get back into bed when he gets out.

Ephraim seemed delighted to be able to get into and out of his bed this evening. He wasn't so thrilled this evening when we put him to bed and he discovered that he could not get out of his bedroom. I guess before I got to bed tonight I will have to check and make sure that he is asleep in his bed and not on the floor.

It looks like this weekend Joe will work on getting the other bunk bed frame set up in Ephraim's room. Then we will be off to buy a mattress. I guess Ephraim has decided that at 18 months old he is done with the crib and wants a big boy bed!