When I stepped out of the shower this morning, Beloved was still dozing and I could hear Tristan talking to Simon. I poked Beloved and reminded him that if he left Simon in his crib too long, Simon might take it into his head to crawl out of it – something we have thus far avoided.
I am in denial over the fact that Simon might some day move from his crib to a bed. In fact, I dread the day. We turfed Tristan from his crib when he was 20 months old, entirely because we needed the crib for Simon’s impending arrival. At the time, he seemed plenty old enough, and he made the transition without complaint. He loved his big boy bed.
Except he wouldn’t stay in it. I was 11 months pregnant (or so it seemed), still working, it was Christmas, and Tristan would be running around the house every night from midnight until 3 am. It was, in a word, horrendous. It got so bad, and I was so desperate for sleep, that a few times I made sure everything was safe, checked the baby gate at the top of the stairs, and locked my door. I’d find him asleep on the floor outside my door when guilt woke me up a few hours later. Bad mommy memories.
I am therefore endlessly grateful that although Simon is a monkey in almost every way, and manages to find trouble other kids couldn’t conceive in their wildest dreams, it hasn’t yet occured to him that he might be able to escape his crib.
All this flashed through my head in a heartbeat this morning as I wandered down the hallway, following the sounds of Tristan and Simon’s laughter. Tristan had turned on the light in Simon’s room, and I nudged open the door to see both of them, plus an assortment of Thomas trains, in Simon’s crib. Together.
Trying very hard not to shriek, I explained to Tristan how climbing into Simon’s crib was a very very very bad idea. “But Mommy,” he said, his blue eyes wounded, “I was just trying to make Simon happy.”
Sigh.
Maybe it won’t occur to Simon that the ingress is an egress too?
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{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
My husband and I were just last night discussing the inevitable move of our youngest (15 months) to a real bed. Our oldest (now 4) did just fine with this — in fact, she NEVER leaves her room without us getting her, so we don’t have to worry about her wandering the house. But our baby is an acrobat and a wanderer. I somehow doubt she’ll stay in bed.
My second has routinely climbed into the crib with my third. My concern was more that the crib might collapse under the weight. But, they are so cute in there together playing that I figured the bruises that might result were worth the time for them to bond on their own. If Simon is going to climb out of the crib, there is pretty much nothing you can do to stop him – just be there to catch him when he falls.
Maybe one day, I’ll get the 15 month old out of OUR bed. Sigh.
Just last week I taught Josephine how to safely climb out of her crib, with a beanbag chair as the soft landing point. She did climb and fall out months ago, and hasn’t attempted since; but I thought that since I’m being a jerk and waiting for the Minnen bed in the dark brown colour to be restocked at Ikea before I get set up a toddler bed (even though the white one is sitting downstairs because I don’t like it!), I’d better prepare her somehow.
That exact same thing happened with Ben and John. John never climbed out of his crib, I have NO IDEA why not. Then when John was a bit over 3 (!) Ben started climbing into and out of John’s crib. I think I did shriek. But John still stayed inside. Since I was pregnant with Ava, maybe it was his way of staying a baby, I don’t know. But he NEVER climbed out. Even though he saw Ben do it a billion times. So there is hope.
Do the boys sleep together? I can’t remember Dani. If they do sleep together Simon may not ramble around the hosue Like Tristan did. Because Tristan stays in bed now.
I’m still waiting for nathan to fall asleep himself gotta workon that.
Sharon
Oh my word, how cute is that?? Although it was probobly not a good idea for Tristan to show Simon how to climb in the crib, it was such a sweet jesture
Anna
Good luck with it my friend… my kiddo was in a *big bed* at roughly 15 months. But then again, he always ended up in our bed by 2am anyway.
A friend of mine would find all three of her kids in the youngest’s crib…to play with him and keep him company. I wouldn’t worry too much about it, but more about the extra weight.
One of my guys climbed out once, CRASH, ouch – never did it again, but they were both awfully good at their acrobatics, remember those pics?
So… wait… let me get this straight: Tristan was in Simon’s crib SHARING HIS THOMAS TRAINS WITH HIM?
Holy linoleum, Batman. That child is a future candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize.
In all seriousness, we never had that trouble. LG is afraid of heights — he never tried to escape from high up in his crib. And Baby Blue has never consented to sleep in a crib in the first place. Sigh. We’re just lucky that she’s too short to reach and open the doorknob to her room…
I adore how they love each other!