Bye bye cribs, hello toddler beds

Late last year, my kids began climbing out of their cribs. Within minutes of Drew-dini making his first escape, I sought the advice of my fellow twin moms. At that point, only one child was climbing, so I wasn't sure if I should only stage a one-son intervention, or if it required a tandem response. Some moms suggested crib tents, others said it was time to transition to big boy beds and a few recommended trying sleep sacks. Since my boys loved their sleep sacks as infants, I brought them out of hibernation to use for nap- and bedtime. The sleep sacks worked great. They curbed their attempts by about 90%. And neither ever made it over the railing with their sleep sacks on...until today.

Henry, my little bull in a china shop, has become the more active climber. Unlike his brother, he is not cautious. Sure, Drew was the first to climb, but in true-to-Drew form, he made sure he perfected his form before his next attempts. Henry, on the other hand, let himself fall the first few times and never worried that he'd probably score a 3 out of 10 on technique if crib climbing were a judged sport. According to Betty, their nanny, Henry acts like a typical toddler, showing no concern for safety when climbing. She had to lock them out of their room the other day because Henry wouldn't stop jumping in and out of his crib.

It's been a few days that both of them have been crib-hopping, but today was the first time I've witnessed them doing this while wearing their sleep sacks. What this means is that nap time today was torture. For me. Twice, Henry climbed out, and the second time, he threw himself so hard against his door trying to get out of his room that he nearly pushed it out of his hinge. Like I said before, he's a brute. Fortunately, he wore himself out and both he and his brother had a decent afternoon nap. During those two hours, I frantically called Jeff trying to figure out how to handle this. Needless to say, we are still figuring out what to do. We're definitely going to convert their cribs. But we're so not ready for the lack of sleep we might experience if/when they leave their beds in the middle of the night. All you parents out there, please tell me the transition will be seamless.

If I don't update again the blog for another month, you'll know it's because I'm catching up on all the missed sleep.