Trouble

I have never had a child that has tried to climb out of their crib. Well, until last week that is...

We are painting the inside of our house, room by room, and I really needed to repaint a small wall really quickly during naptime one day. I put the babies down, then hurried down to start painting so I could be all done when they woke up. I could hear one of them crying off and on and I thought I heard little footsteps up there. But I knew that couldn't be them... no way. I painted furiously and cleaned up, then went up to check on the babies, since naptime was about over and I had heard crying most of the time.

This is what I found... Lexi was out of her crib (I was totally shocked) and the room completely ripped apart, including the rocking chair pulled over (I thought I heard a loud thud). Both girls look exhausted (neither of them slept a wink) and almost kind of sheepish.

The most horrifying sight was this- Desitin all over Leah's crib. Apparently, Lexi had slipped Leah the tube of Desitin and both of them had painted the crib with cream, including their outfits and Leah's face.

Luckily, the Walmart brand of Desitin has a slightly less stronger smell, but it still did not smell pretty in there.

I quickly started cleaning up before any more damage could be done. Luckily, the cream came off pretty easily and a quick load of laundry washed away the damage to the sheets, crib bumper and the girls' clothes.

Leah decided to throw me a bone and help clean up. How sweet.

So after the mess was all cleaned up, the realization that Lexi can now climb out of her crib hit me hard. I am NOT ready for them to be in big beds... no way. They aren't even 2 and there are 2 of them. And no babies on the way that need to use the cribs. And if she can climb out, she'll do it any chance she gets, which means no more naps (for either girl, as Lexi keeps Leah awake and busy), and interrupted night sleep. Both girls take naps and both sleep amazingly well at night- 13 hours each night.

My first thought was to just switch beds. Lexi sleeps in a pack n' play and it's shorter and probably easier to climb out of. So I tried that one night and Leah screamed and screamed- she knows which bed is hers and she was not willing to switch. I can't blame her.

The only other option was to buy a crib tent. The only problem with that was waiting for it to be shipped. I held my breath at every nap time and bed time, praying she wouldn't get out. Amazingly, she did great, for the most part. She only got out of her bed one day for naps and the rest she did just fine. She did get out of bed one morning before she normally wakes up, but it could have been worse.

3 days after we ordered it, it arrived! Ben set it up and we were ready to try it out.

Both the girls were quite intrigued and had to check it out. Lexi first.

Then Leah

We read books, then I went to put them in their beds.

I tried to prep her for what was coming by talking excitedly about her new tent. She pointed to it and was excited because I was.

And in she went... which is where the fun ended.

She cried immediately as I went to zip her in. I tried to talk to her and reassure her it was going to be ok.

But that did no good. She screamed and hit the tent and cried and cried. Game over, Lexi. Sorry.

Leah, on the other hand, just laid right down and was calm as a cucumber. Thank goodness she has never climbed out of her crib. And we are praying that it stays that way.

Things have gotten better- Lexi has gotten a little more used to the tent. Poor baby has had to get used to a lot the last 2 weeks. The week before she climbed out of her bed, I took her binky away. She has only been getting a binky in bed for the past 9 months or so, but I can tell that the older she gets the more attached she gets to it, even in bed. I was going to wait until she turned 2 and be done with it then, but decided 2 months isn't going to make that much of a difference and just took it away one night. I actually cut the nipple and she popped it in at bedtime and noticed right away that something was wrong. I told her "Uh oh, it's broken!" She didn't like it broken and happily came with me to throw it in the garbage. She expected a new one (she knows we have more than one) but I just told her it was yucky and broken. She cried for a bit but got over it pretty fast and fell asleep. She asked for a binky every night at bed for 4 or 5 days, but has since forgotten about it.

Thank goodness for crib tents. They work amazingly and I highly recommend them.