Last week our oldest daughter perfected the rapid crib escape. It's not the first time she has managed to flee her coop, but it was becoming more common. She takes a Maguyver like approach and climbs the impossible. Her crib is a bit more fancy than a standard rectangle. We were too flush with hormones and baby bliss when we registered for it to see how practical a simple crib would eventually be. We picked out one with a high swooping back and a low scoop front...a mistake we now will pay for dearly.
The first time she climbed out of her crib was one winter evening after I tucked her and her sister in their respective cribs. They were making more noise than I felt was appropriate for 8:30 pm and I decided to go check out the situation. I opened the door to their dimly lit nursery to be greeted by my 2 year old sit calmly and happily in my cushy glider. She had a book open and I swear she looked like she was reading to her little sister. I promptly busted up that party and put her back in bed. After a bit of discussion, my husband and I agreed it must have been the low scoop front that allowed her to escape. She didn't have to get her leg up too far and she could be free. We formulated a plan and turned her crib around the next day. Now the high swooping back faced forward. We thought for sure that would solve the problem. Granted we now struggled to get her in and out of the crib smoothly over the high swooping part, but as long as she stayed put we would deal with the side effects.
Our solution lasted a while. We struggled daily to put her to bed without blatantly dropping her in her crib. Rhu tried the beaver approach for a while-if she couldn't climb out she'd chew her way out. After serious damage to the sides of the expensive crib we installed rubber mats...also another way to make it difficult to get out.
But alas, all good things must come to an end. Last week Rhu finally became able to climb out of her crib at will. I think the last straw was when I was getting ready for work and I saw on the baby monitor that she not only climbed out of her crib, but she climbed into her sister's. The two girls laughed and played like college freshman at a frat party. There was laughing, tickling and throwing of personal possessions overboard. That was it...she had to be stopped. Once again my husband and I discussed the situation. We agreed on the solution quickly. It was going to be drastic, but if we were going to keep our babies safe we had to do it.
That night we purchased a crib tent. It's a giant size version of one you would see at a picnic keeping the food safe from bugs. This contraption looks hysterical. A mesh tent that completely cover the crib and all side so no matter how clever the kid is, they aren't getting out...I hope.
We didn't know how she would react to being confined like a zoo animal, so we told her it was her tower. She has developed a serious infatuation with all things Rapunzel, so we hoped the spin doctoring would help the reception.
The first night went well until I heard her howl at 3am. Instantly I woke up sure we were doing psychological damage by caging her in!! I rushed into her room and rescued her from her prison. A few minutes of rocking and singing and she was ready to go back to her magical tower. It didn't take long before she figured out that smashing her face in the mesh would be funny. Since then she has taken to her new crib tent very well.
Now, every night she goes in her tent and says a happy, "Night" and she's off to dreamland. I wonder how long before she figures out how to break free...
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