No Call Number: The Big Kid Bed

On Wednesday night, I woke up at 1:30 to the sounds of toddler glee. X was playing in his crib again. He often wakes up in the middle of the night and plays by himself. I let him play for about an hour and a half, then went in to bring him some milk and check his diaper. I rocked him a little, and when he didn't go back to sleep, I put him in his crib. He screamed for a bit--the neighbors must love us--then settled down and tried to go to sleep. I watched him toss around on the video monitor for a little while, then went back in for him. I woke his daddy up and asked him to watch TV with his son for awhile. Daddy, a champion at falling asleep in any situation, conked out on the couch and X ran amock for awhile, waking me up. After the neighbors--we have wonderful neighbors-- called security on us, we put him back in his crib. He screamed again, then I heard the door open. It had taken him ten seconds to figure out how to climb out of his crib. He spent the rest of the night in bed with us, playing iphone games and thrusting the iphone forcefully at one of us when he needed help.

On Thursday, we both had to work and were too wrecked to think about converting his bed, so we did what we could to toddler proof his room, then put the doorknob cover on the inside of his door. We figured, exhausted as he was, he would just go to sleep. Ten seconds after I put him down, he was knocking on the door. I put him back in his crib. He climbed back out again. I put him back. He climbed out again. After about five times, I decided to let him be. He fell asleep on the floor in front of the door. Bobby had to prod him with a back scratcher until he rolled over and I could slip in and put X in his crib.

On Friday, Bobby converted his crib to a toddler bed before he went to work. We left the doorknob cover on the door, and X fell asleep in front of the door again. As we did the previous night, we maneuvered him into his bed after he fell asleep.

Yesterday, I took him to the Target, where he chose only Thomas the Train sheets, a blanket, and a throw. I had to sneak a second set of sheets into the shopping cart when he wasn't looking. Last night, he actually lay down in his bed and let me read stories to him. He told me goodnight. Full of pride, I grabbed the monitor to show Bobby that X was in his bed, turning it on in time to see him climb out. He had finally recognized what a marvelous opportunity this was, and instead him knocking on the door, we heard him emptying the contents of his toy box. Nonetheless, after a half hour of playing, he crawled back into his bed. When I woke in the morning, he was on the floor. Small steps.

I am glad that this isn't a "mommy blog," because I can only imagine what the mommy blogosphere would say about me locking my child in his room at night.