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August 05, 2007
S.O.S.
Seriously.
We're having a wonderful weekend here in DeVylder land, with my cousin visiting for the weekend and the weekend also full of friends and birthday parties. Tonight, after a mishmash dinner, we decided to go out for ice cream. By this point, it's 7. I know I'm pushing it with the kiddies, but it's that kind of night. Eli shares some ice cream with me (but he keeps taking my spoon out of the bowl so he can put his in... smart and sassy, and makes me say 'HEY!' in my best New Yorker accent). Usually Eli is taking two naps for us on the weekends, but today he only had one.
This is all back-fill to bring you, kind reader and answerer of my SOS call, up to the present, because I'm now dealing with an over-tired, over-sugared 17-month old. It cannot be good.
We're home after ice cream. It's now about 8:05 pm. I get Eli immediately ready for bed. We come upstairs, we read a couple of books, and then I put him in his crib. I turn out the light. He starts to cry, so I stand there for a minute. As my eyes acclimate to the dark, I see that in his frustration, Eli is attempting to climb out of his crib. I don' t worry, as I have never seen him do this before, and he couldn't possibly...oh my... he's not... wait. Is that his LEG on top of the railing? Wait, am I actually catching Eli as he is falling out of the crib?
I am. (side note: this is the SECOND time I have saved him from smashing his skull today, and I say this without exaggeration.)
Ok, so now I am freaked out on the inside. I put him back in the crib, and he starts to attempt to climb out again.
I call John up. I explain what just happened. And instantly we were coming up with plan B... you know plan B, the one we're supposed to have pre-planned, where we figure out how the f**K we get a 17-month old to sleep in a bed?
It's now 8:45. And we're moving his dresser out of his room (because he most certainly will climb on it), we're moving the rocking chair, we're moving his chest out (the one that was in front of the window that looks over the stairs... don't ask, I have NO idea why we have a window inside). We're trying to cover the cubby hole that has the toddler bed in pieces, as there is no way we can assemble the frame at this point, and just need to make sure Eli doesn't go on an expedition. Because at this point, there is NO way I can let him sleep in his crib, I would be freaking out all night.
We bring the toddler aerobed in, and then I stay with Eli to figure out how we get him to sleep.
I lay down with him. He's crawling all over me. And the whole time I'm thinking, I have no idea what I'm doing. I have no idea how to do this. I start to sit on the end of the bed so he can have some space. He crawls down and finds me in the darkness, climbs into my arms, and starts to say 'mmm' to kiss me. Again. and Again.
At one point he finds my upper arm and blows big, fat raspberries. Again. and Again.
And this whole time, I'm telling myself it's ok I don't have a clue, because that is what the Internet is for, right? I can figure it out before the next night.
I finally step out somehow, about 40 minutes later, even though Eli is still semi-awake. I went back in to check on him, using the glow of John's iPhone to show me where Eli was in relation to his bed (I KNEW it was worth the money), and I found him half on/half off. I managed to get him on his bed completely, but will he stay? I think I'll be sleeping with one eye open tonight.
Posted by janna at August 5, 2007 11:29 PM
Comments
Ok, I'm not sure what those other comments are but...And I'm sure you've figured this out by now- but when Theo was doing that, we were told to go out and buy one of those crib tents to put over the crib so that he couldn't climb out. We never had to because he got really freaked out about falling out of his bed and just stopped. What did you guys do?
Posted by: Christin at August 27, 2007 09:06 PM