You may recall that we had to move Hannah out of her crib about a year ago because she figured out how to climb out of the crib. No problem, we thought, we'll put her in the pack and play, which she can't escape. We tried putting her in the big girl bed a few months ago, but after a while she figured out that there was NOTHING stopping her from getting out of the big girl bed, opening her door, and coming out into the playroom at 3am to turn on the light and play or read. After a few nights of waking up in the wee hours to find her at-large in the house, we reverted to the pack and play.That catches you up to this afternoon. I heard Hannah wake up from her nap, but we have a two hour quiet time rule in effect, so she had ten minutes left to hang out in the pack and play. I heard the usual amount of noise in there, but she wasn't crying, it just sounded like she was talking to herself and banging around a little.
Until I heard the door open. Imagine my surprise when Hannah toddled cheerfully out of her room on her own! "Hannah!" I exclaimed, "how did you get out of your bed???"
"I jumped out of THERE, Mama," she replied with emphasis, "an' I found Daddy's books!!!!"
Note that the above picture of her clutching "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" was not staged, as you can probably guess by her bad case of bed head. Apparently Effective Habit Number 7B involves teaching toddlers to climb out of pack and plays.
Now I don't know what we will do to contain this child. Any ideas?
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5 comments:
Eek!
Maybe a baby gate on her bedroom door?
Or perhaps duct tape and vodka? Works for me! Oh, wait... Never mind... :P
Have you tried one of those crib-tent things that you put on the top of a bed that supposedly keeps kids from climbing out? I am no authority on whether they work or not, but it's a thought.
I am impressed you can impose a 2 hour quiet rule...if Morgan gets in an hour nap during the day, I am ecstatic!
Here's my suggestion since I can't resist commenting when someone asks for advice on kids: just explain to her that she needs to stay in her bed and the instant she gets out of bed swat her leg (with the switch you have on hand of course!) and tell her to get back in. It sounds cruel... but it works. Of course you will have to forfeit you 2 hours of quiet time for a few days to stand guard... but it might be worth it.
Wow, I'm going to be a cruel mother aren't I? I was afraid of that.
I have heard very scary things about the tent. A child of a friend of my cousin's got his head caught between the tent and the crib trying to sneak out and is now brain dead due to lack of oxygen. Not good!
My brother's son does the same thing Hannah does. They reversed the door knob on his room and lock him in. That way, the only damage to the house can be in his room. Pre door knob switch, he poo pooed on the couch! Now he is confined to his room.
Also, according to Super Nanny, you should not acknowledge their getting up with words. Simply walk them back to their bed and put them in. How well this works in reality is beyond me.
My daughter is in a "big girl" bed and was doing great, until she figured out how to turn the doorknob this past weekend. I put on this babyproofing door knob handle on the inside of the door. What happens is that she can't turn the door knob b/c there is plastic around it. Hope this helps.
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