It’s common to hear loud thumps coming from AM’s room while she’s sleeping. Once she could crawl it took her a while to find the hard boundaries of the crib and she would slam into the side with her head. Frank did it too, but with him we used to run in like commandos busting through the door of a hostage situation.
The second kid…eh?
I heard a comedienne talk about the treatment second and thirds kids get. She said with the first, if the pacifier hits the ground, it gets washed, boiled, and sent to the CDC for germ analysis before being returned, ironically, to the cesspool that is a toddlers mouth. The second kid’s binker hits the deck and you may wipe it on your leg or if near a sink, run it under some water. The third kid… you think “if there is enough dirt on that I may not have to feed him lunch.”
AM is getting the second kid treatment when it comes to bumps in the night. When we hear a thump from her room we go quiet, as if the silence allows us to analyze the thump and decide what object caused it. After a few seconds we look up at each other, “that was a book” or “she hit her head on the side.” We are about as accurate as weather predictions. But going quiet also allows us to ascertain if she’s crying or upset, in which case Tracy and I run to the car and go for a shake, checking the monitor when we get home in hope she’s fallen asleep.
However, one night we heard an unusually loud thump followed by what sounded like footsteps, then crying. Had no choice, we were going in. Besides it was too cold to run for a shake. The further up the stairs I got the more the crying sounded like it was coming from right behind the door. When I got to the outside of the door I hear more footsteps going away and no crying. Now I’m getting creeped out. Read a few posts back about my insane fear of the dark, which then catapults the mind into all kinds of frightening scenarios. I gotta stop watching Walking Dead.
But I have no choice. I gotta open the door, at the risk of a zombie mauling or not. When I do, I see a 21 month old kid who used to be in her crib, standing in the middle of the room with a look on her face like she knew she was in trouble. Turns out I was the one in trouble. She figured out how to get out of her crib. Did I mention she is 21 months old and born 3 1/2 months early? I’m sure it’s come up once or twice.
Big girl shoes already? Maybe a big girl bed too.
When Frank looked ready to jump for it the solution was easy. We just lowered his mattress to the bottom rung on his crib. Well AM’s mattress is already on the bottom. She’s using the fancy ledge on the front of the crib to support her arms as she lifts her entire body up and then flings her feet over the side. It’s a maneuver that allows her to land on her feet. It’s not the seeing the Great Wall of China from space amazing, but you can’t look away when she does it. We know she landed on her feet because there was only one thump. Had she fallen there would have been some associated noises, to include crashing into the small table next to the rocking chair.
So what to do? We can’t put a 21 month old a kid bed, can we? She’ll be out of that thing the minute we close the door. Plus she’s has already figured out how to open doors. Once AM gets enough body strength to turn the knob and push or pull at the same time, she will be running around the house all hours of the night like a freaking cat.
As former ESPN anchor Dan Patrick used to say about Michael Jordan, “You can’t stop him, you can only hope to contain him.”
Not to take anything away from Jordan, but I don’t think we’ll even be able to contain AM.
Frank's Place 
An unsolicited suggestion from a mom of four? Put her in a toddler bed or put the mattress on the floor and put a baby gate up in the door. Voila no wandering! Walking Dead?! Really or are you just teasing?! I’ m a big fan but not afraid of the dark! Lol!
We looked at the mattras on the floor option but the “fancy” crib we just had to have makes it dangerous to do that. Too many exposed bolts and such. Baby gate on the door sounds promising.
And yes, crazy afarid of the dark when I’m alone. But huge fan of Walking Dead.
When my friend moved her daughter to the toddler bed, she put her angelcare monitor ( I think that is the one) that detects movement back in the bed. She said the alarm was so loud that her daughter only got up once or twice.
Not sure scaring the crap out of her or us is the way to go. but thanks for the suggestion and the read.
Aidan ‘s first escape from the crib was 18 months but mattress wasn’t all the way down..I agree with your friend Lisa…toddler bed aand gate on bedroom door. Aidan was under 3 when he went in toddler bed….Mom put me in a doublee bed at 2. Remember I used to escape the shoulder harness of the highchair. It’s in her genes dude!! Lol
Yeah thats for sure. We had Frank in his own bed at 2, but he was not nearly as adventerous as Anne Marie. All he wants to do is sleep so he rarely gets out of bed.
I am really jealous of those shoes. Want.
One of my nieces climbed out of the crib at 13 months so toddler bed it was. Good luck!
You’ll have to talk to Mrs Frank’s Place about the shoes.
Ok. Girl has spunk. A few thousand posts ago you had a post about her climbing over the baby gate. She will be out and about in seconds. You have to think like a 21 mo old. Which is not a stretch for you. Mattress on floor, close door and lots of toys. She will fall asleep when she wants to. Your problem the next day when she is still asleep at 12pm. Think of how much you will get done when she is asleep. Good luck and lots of prayers for your sanity being intact as you age.
“You have to think like a 21 mo old. Which is not a stretch for you.” – Says the guy who worked in the hydraulic shop. 😛
And your point is? I know that my kids were smarter than me by that age. Acceptance will get you past the fact that you are outmatched, Spark chaser! Griswald would agree.
Where I’m outmatched in brains I make up for with brute force strength. I figure that should keep me even for another year or so.
The jokes about the changing pacifier policy from one kid to the next are spot on. With my first born, if anything came near to touching the floor, it was rinsed, scrubbed, boiled, rinsed again, and thoroughly inspected before being put back into use. Now that I’m on my fourth, if a kid needs a pacifier, I start scavenging under couches and beds until I find one and then pop it right in her mouth.
We have a toddler bed, which is the next step after the kid can escape the crib, but we keep it in our bedroom since our three year old usually ends up in there anyway. Definitely not an ideal situation, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. Good luck!
Yeah. no she’s staying put in her own room. The issue will be containment. I like the baby gate on her door. Now for muffling the sound of her cries when she can’t get out…