Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Quinn can climb

So, Zac was away this weekend playing dungeons and dragons with some pals, and of course, Quinn decided this was the weekend (when I was all alone) to start to climb out of his crib. My heart nearly stopped when I went in to check on him in the crib, while trying to get him to nap, and I saw his little foot on top of the rail. The rest of the day involved panic, no naps, and a sleepless night for me as I stayed awake wondering if he'd fall out of the crib.

I really don't think Quinn is ready for a big boy bed. I read somewhere that a child needs to have some understanding of the "invisible boundaries" of a bed, i.e. that the bed is a place, that you can be in bed or out of bed, etc. I'm not sure Quinn is there yet. So the next day I bought a crib tent and assembled it all by myself while Quinn tried to impale himself on the poles. It seems to do the job, at least for now. At first the tent seemed to alternately amuse and frustrate him, but I think he's getting used to it. Sadly, I know it's just a stop-gap measure until Big Boy Bed Day comes.

5 comments:

Zachary Drake said...

Yes, I'm scared too. I worry that his physical ability to get into trouble is exceeding his mental capacity to avoid it by more and more all the time. I think this is true of all two year olds, but I bet it's going to be worse for Quinn and last a lot longer.

theotherlion said...

Yes, yes it will. It is beyond scary. Punkin will run into the street, through the grocery store, hold knives by the blade, and climb on tall furniture, with no idea that it's wrong. Once he even tried to climb into a stranger's car. YIKES. Granted, it was a big white truck with big black wheels, so the appeal was obvious, but still. I had to get him a big boy bed because he was climbing out of his crib. It took MANY nights of returning him to the bed to get him to understand boundaries.

Umma said...

I am so glad Monkey is not a climber! I did not think Monkey was ready for a big boy bed either but he was just getting so tall I was afraid he'd accidentally fall out of the crib. We used the mattress on the floor for quite a while to help him learn the boundaries of the bed and then when he seemed to get it we put it in the frame. He still slithers his way to the floor some nights and we have to help him back in but since he's in a toddler bed he's not going to hurt himself.

He's almost too long for the toddler bed though so I think we need to move him up a size but I'm still worried he'll fall out. Maybe we'll do a full-sized mattress on the floor for a while.

I think our greatest accomplishment saftey-wise so far is teaching Monkey the words "hot" and "owwie." They seem to work for most dangerous situations and they do make him stop when he's getting into trouble. He's still impulsive though so we have to keep our guard up all the time to give him the warnings.

Zachary Drake said...

Oh boy. More scariness to look forward to.

Bjetsey said...

may the crib tent work well and long!! N is a climber, but somehow he hasn't climbed out of the crib yet, and I'm not looking forward to that day!