Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Crib Hopping: An Abby Adventure

We've reached a point that I've been dreading. In fact, it's fair to say that I was in denial for a while, but I can't ignore it anymore.

Can anyone tell me what is wrong with this picture?

If you said that it looks like there are two kids in the same crib, then you are correct. Someone learned how to escape and went on a goodwill tour.

It's true. I saw it coming. But it doesn't make me anymore excited about the idea.

About three weeks prior to when the above photo was taken, Ellie had a bad cold and coughed so hard that she threw up right after we put them down for the night. I took her downstairs to clean her up while Sean changed her sheets.

Sean: *yelling from upstairs* Hey...did you put Abby in Caleb's crib?
Me: No...
Sean: ...did I put her in Caleb's crib?
Me: I don't know.
Sean: Well, somehow she ended up in there. Do you think she did that herself?
Me: Let's go with, "no." I'm not ready for that yet.

After a couple of days, we decided that one of us must have moved her since she didn't do it again.

Nevermind that. *sigh*

So on this particular evening about a week and a half ago, we suddenly heard Caleb and Abby get really loud in their room. Sean went up to check on them, started laughing, and called me to come up and look at them. I grabbed my camera on the way because I had a feeling I knew where this was going.

Yep, Abby figured out how to Crib Hop.


Of course, Caleb thought it was a hoot!

Ellie thought it was pretty funny too! 

 And Elijah was just trying to sleep through it.

It was pretty funny since Abby seemed a little disoriented with her new surroundings. I took a few photos and then we put her back in bed, told her to stay there, and told the rest of the kids to go to sleep. Then we went downstairs to finish a movie.

And 10 minutes later....
Lots of noise coming from Ellie's crib told us that our little escape artist was probably out visiting again.

Apparently she hadn't caught on yet that we didn't want her to crib hop, because she voluntarily demonstrated her technique for us as she went back to her crib.

"And then you hike this leg up over the railing. And then you use your toes to grip the other side..."

And then she applauded herself on a job well done!

 I won't bore you with the rest of the details from that evening. Suffice it to say, she crib hopped from her 8pm bedtime until 11:30pm that night! I quit taking photos after the first two times as it was quickly losing its charm.

We have managed to put a cap on some of her bedtime activity...it just wasn't going to fly with her keeping the entire family up until all hours of the night! With some persuasion, she eventually quit crib hopping at every nap and bedtime, so we didn't have to pull her out of the others' cribs nearly as often.

I really thought that Sean and I were making some progress with teaching her some self-control, but then she took over and finished the lesson by herself.  She hasn't crib hopped in the last four days! I'm sure that has something to do with completely missing Caleb's crib the last time she tried it. The thud when she fell out of her crib definitely sent us sprinting up the stairs. Poor thing had the wind knocked out of her. She is just fine, but I'm hoping that her fall scared her enough to keep her in her own crib for a good while longer!

I'm still not ready for free-roaming toddlers!

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13 comments:

  1. I am so glad that none of my kids have ever learned to climb out of their cribs! (*knock on wood*) but that may be that most of them have been out of the crib and into toddler beds by this point.

    My twins are still in cribs but they are on opposite sides of the room, otherwise we would probably be dealing with the same thing lol. They just like to jump up and down and laugh at each other. :)

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    1. I wish the room was big enough to split all of them up like that! But since it isn't...at least I got some good pictures! LOL!

      If I had a singleton, I might be more apt to switch it to a toddler bed, but I'm just not brave enough yet. I'm probably going to stick with the cribs until I don't have a choice. :)

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  2. I love to read your blog! It makes me stop & remember. Your kids seem to do things about the same time ours did. Our cribs turned to toddler beds around 22-23 months! Good Luck!! Hopefully they hold out a little longer!

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    1. On the one hand, I'm glad to hear that they are keeping up with other kids their ages but...sheesh! Sometimes milestones I wish we could avoid! But it sounds like you survived the transition and that gives me hope!

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  3. We thought our daughter was sleeping through the night only to find that our son was climbing from his crib into hers to comfort her.
    This crib hopping allowed us more sleep as he easily calmed her.

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    1. Wow, that is one of the sweetest things I've ever heard! Brother protecting and comforting sister...I hope you took pictures of that!

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  4. Sounds like about the same time ours started climbing out of their cribs, we had to switch them to toddler beds which the boys did really well with the first week, it look Elizabeth a couple days to get used to the bed.

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    1. I was wondering when you guys switched over. I can't remember, were they all in the same room? And were they talking yet when you switched them? I know our kids understand what we are saying, but since they don't talk yet, it's hard to get a read on what they are thinking.

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  5. I was going to suggest crib tents but it sounds like those have been recalled. Maybe some valsaline on the bars?

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    1. LOL! Vasaline! I would hope that would slow them down!

      And yes, crib tents have been recalled. :(

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  6. haha! I was laughing so hard reading this!!! SOOO glad you document all this for them to read back through some day! We moved our singletons to twin beds at 14-15 months old (yes I know that sounds crazy but its true!) ... with the twins now that same age we are like NO WAY! haha! Multiples are a totally different world!

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    1. Oh goodness! I can't imagine having them in toddler beds right now! Ahhh!!! :)

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  7. Yikes, that's pretty cute, though. We kept our twins in sleep sacks until they were over 2 years old to prevent the crib escape attempts. They aren't really climbers so I don't know if it was the sleep sacks or just their personalities. They turned 3 in October and are still in cribs. Thankfully!

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