And so it begins......

Saturday morning one of my nightmares....OK, nightmare is a little dramatic...how about a not so pleasant dream was realized. Ever since Tessa was born, I had these weird, very realistic dreams, that one of the kids would walk into my room in the middle of the night....but they were in a crib and shouldn't be able to get out. Once you get over the whole I'm-freak-out-about-SIDS-issue, cribs are awesome. The babies love them, Mommies know their babies are safe and snuggled up with their precious blankets and stuffed animals. I know if Ellis wakes up crying, he usually goes back to sleep and I don't need to worry. When Tessa was still in her crib, I knew I could take a quick shower while she still talked to herself before she got really demanding.

Although Tessa certainly had the skills, she never climbed out of her crib. My crib is low to the floor so I never worried about physical harm, just unattended toddler was all I worried about. She climbed out of a pack-a-play up in the mountains during nap time, so we put her in the big bed where she slept perfectly. Ellis had just been born and we needed to move her to her big girl bed anyways (already set-up in her room). As soon as we got home, I moved the crib back into the nursery and Tessa has slept in her big girl bed ever since. For about a year, we used a gate in front of her door as well. Again, she could easily climb it and she tried it a couple of times, but on the 2nd time she got her little tow pinched and never tried again. We finally took the gate off last year since she was potty trained and needed to go potty sometimes, etc.

We've casually discussed Ellis moving to a big boy bed. There's no rush since we don't need the crib and he loves his crib and is a great sleeper. He's also never tried to climb out of it...............until now!

So, back to Saturday morning. Mike was still working so I was home by myself with the kids. Tessa had woken up and came into my room at 5:00am and gone back to sleep (anytime after 5:00 she can stay in our room, before that it's back to her room). Something woke me up. It was one of those noises you think you hear but then aren't sure if it was in a dream. I thought it sounded like a door handle, but Tessa was right next to me. Then I heard some other noises and thought maybe Gretchen was on the roof of the front porch and scratching at the bedroom window, but then I realized she was sleeping at the foot of the bed. Maybe it was squirrels or birds flitting around outside. Then I heard "Boingggggg, Boingggggggg, Boingggggg" and I knew immediately and jumped up. I opened Ellis' door and he was standing there with his big, goofy grin playing with the door stop in his room. I asked him "Did you climb out of your bed" and he said "No" Crazy Moose! It just surprised me because he hadn't been awake for a while with me ignoring him and he wasn't calling my name. He just climbed out, tried to open the door (that's what woke me) and then played with some stuff in his room, looked out the window, and then found the door stop. Luckily he hasn't done it again, but I'm on total red alert now and every time I hear a noise or hear him wake I am wide awake. I try to go in right away to put him back to sleep so he doesn't get into a habit of climbing out, but it looks like we are going to have to buy some big boy furniture sooner rather than later.