There is something creepy about a lean long limbed 20 month old who walks the back ledge of sofas on her tip toes. There is something downright weird about a child who can wedge her toe in a 1/2" strip of wainscotting to hoist herself up 3 1/2 feet to a seat ledge. When other toddlers are ambling around carrying tubby bellies and roly poly legs my 20 month old is running through the house gracefully skipping from room to room in attempt to hide from her 5 year old sister. If you catch her out of the corner of your eye while distracted making dinner it appears as if she only touches the ground every other step or so.
But now the all the "oh, my that is sort of strange" has now turned into Oh, shit what do we do now?" Exactly 20 minutes ago I left Olivia for a nap in her crib. I was in the next room downloading yummy tunes on my new Shuffle. Then I heard her bedroom door open behind me and a little pitter patter of toddler size 6 feet thumped quietly moving closer to me. I turn to see a huge grin to accompany those feet. It honestly took a minute for it to register, she hopped out of the crib and opened her bedroom door. I promptly told her no, no and popped her back in her crib in denial that she might do it again.
Not 10 seconds later that door opened again. There was no small sound of a thud as the kid scaled the crib and landed on the carpet, I'm presuming she landed on her her feet since I haven't actually witnessed the circus act yet. I heard no screaming related to a broken neck or arm so I'm assuming she's now not only capable of climbing the crib she's also more than proficient. And by more than proficient I'm wondering her her people were feline circus folks.
Seriously, what do we do now, she is only 20 months old? Too young for a big girl bed in my opinion. Do we toss a mattress on the floor and gate the upstairs hoping she doesn't figure out how to scale the stair railing in the middle of the night. I'm more than a little wigged out at the thought of bolting the bedroom door shut for obvious reasons, of course.
I have to go break the news to the Muffin Man, he will be so pleased. Then I guess I'm off to the baby super store to see if those tent contraptions will hook to her crib?
Really, if your kid did this please leave advice in the comments section. I have no idea how to keep the kid down. Would a water squirt bottle work? Kidding.
11 comments:
My 2-cents:
1) Costco - the inflatable bed
2) knob protector on the inside of her door.
Donna over at Double Happiness had the same issue! She used the "tents" with success. I am an avid reader of chinese adoption blogs, and LOVE yours.
:)
Jamie
My son did this at 13 months!
Squirt bottle. Kidding, but I like it! We did the mattress on the floor with a baby gate on the door. Secure all furniture to the wall and babyproof The room. When he started climbing over one gate (at 18 months) we used two! One on top of the other...When he started climbing that(not safe) we did what Johnny suggested, a knob protector so he couldn't open the door (why didn't we do that first??)
My husband put vitamin e lotion on the slats of the crib and our daughter could not get a toe hold. We were able to keep her in the crib and moisturize her toes all at the same time. She was not happy to be outfoxed on her crib escape plans. I should add that she is now a fantastic gymnast. Sounds like your little one's got skills too!
Patti in Florida
We had the same problem here at 23 months- and that was too soon for a big girl bed (as I realize in hindsight). My girl was also not at all as graceful as yours, and was in danger of hurting herself.
I HIGHLY recommend the crib tent. She's too young to be running around. You could do the crib tent and also put a gate on her bedroom door (in case your Houdini figures out the tent).
We did a toddler bed and the door gate. Again, I HIGHLY recommend the crib tent. I'd try that first before you starting drilling stuff in to the walls.
Good luck- this is a tough one!
tshapedgirl
uh oh. sucks to be you right now... hope the tent thingy works. our crib is our sanity break. clearly, my kid is not an acrobat :)
We used knob protectors once we moved my daughter into a big girl bed at 3. She would lay at the crack of the door crying and screaming and then fall asleep. We would then push the door open with her behind it (gently ofcourse) and put her to bed. She couldn't get out of the room, and eventually got the hint staying in bed. ~Louise
Good Luck, Perrin! I don't have an answer to your problem, but I'm definitely buying a ticket to that cutie pie's gymnastics meet.
Miss you all!
Traci
What a smart, little cutie-pie.
I just read of another little one "busting out" of her crib. The advice from others who had BTDT was:
childproof the room entirely.
put a mattress on the floor.
Get ready to put her back in her bed at least 20 times per sleep time before she stays put.
Good luck!
Also, my sister had her daughter in a 'big girl' bed at 18 months, so it can work?
Get her out of the crib ASAP. You can break a leg that way.
We put a pressure gate on the outside of the bedroom door. It works until she figures out how to scale that.
Some kids try. Some don't
My oldest just stopped napping at 20 months. Boom, she was done... I was pregnant at the time so I gave up fighting and just let her play...
The crib tent is what we used when she started crawling out of her crib. I love that thing! Good luck!
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