Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Sleeping Arrangements

So in the beginning of Spring, our little monkey, Bryan, decided to climb out of his crib. Since this scared us to death, we ended up taking off the front of the bed to make it a day bed. The boys loved it and every time I would take them into their room to get dressed after a nice bath, they would jump up on the bed like it was the most favorite thing they could do.
In the days following, Bryan then learned how to climb from his crib to INTO Jonathan's crib that sits next to his. Why? Just to be funny, I guess. :) He would do this over and over again and now the bed frame has worn out and comes undone easily. Not to mention that Jonathan didn't enjoy having his brother jump into his crib and take his blanket in the middle of the night. Ugh!

About a month later, Jonathan wised up and he started to climb out of his crib via the side rails. This was easily done since we had a mini-fridge next to his crib so he wouldn't have to get down very far and he could climb back in if he wanted. Well, that was no good, so off went the front of his crib too. Again, it was like I bought a new favorite toy! The boys would run and jump into one crib then to the next in a flash. It was really cute, but it would always eventually lead to a fight with someone getting bopped in the head. Boys! They've also learned how to jump recently. Except it's not really jumping, it's more like falling. They start standing on their mattress, then we say "1 - 2- 3 - Jump!" and off they go onto the large pillow waiting on the floor. This scares me half-to-death because they go at the same time and they think I'm ready to catch them at all times when sometimes I'm not. We've all got a few boo-boo's from this game.
Then we started to have some problems with the twins escaping out of their room. We'd put them to bed and close their door then go downstairs. (we have a gate at the top of the stairs.) Inevitably, we would hear a rucous a few minutes later. When one of us would go up to investigate, at least one has escaped and is in our room, our bathroom, or in the hall banging on the gate. It was starting to get a bit out of control with both boys finding it hilarious to empty out every stitch of clothing that I had neatly folded in their dressor and dumping the clotes all over the floor of their room. (I have to take a deep-breath just thinking about the mess.)
Most mornings, Bryan would get up first and quietly jump out of bed, open the nursery door and close it behind him, open our door(that we don't close all the way) and close it behind him then says "UP!, UP!, UP!" until we obey and pick him up and put him into our bed with us. I have to admit, it's kind of adorable.
We tried the waiting game. We would put them to bed, then close their door with just a crack open for us to watch what they do. Once they get up, we rush in and put them back in their bed. I think this is the Nanny-911 method. It was hard not to laugh at this because we would lay Jonathan in his crib and pull the blanket up over him and he would put this half smile on his face like he was trying not to smile, but he couldn't help it. Sometimes he would even stick out his leg over the edge of the bed so he could get ready to jump out just as soon as we closed the door. The little stinker! As soon as we put Bryan back in his crib, he would pretend to sleep and even get into his normal sleep position and close his eyes. He hasn't mastered this just yet because he still cracks open his eyes to check if we're still watching him even when we're right in front of him. When he sees that we've caught him, he smiles and turns away in a bashful way. So darn cute, it's hard to be mad. Eventually, we get tired, not them, so that doesn't work so well.
Just this week, Matt came up with an idea that has worked so far to keep the twins in their cribs until we come to rescue them in the morning. This has to be a temporary fix since it's taking up all the space in the room. He's put both cribs together facing eachother.

Well, the twins don't like this toy so much! All their stuffed animals are inside (including their paci's) so it's a symphony of nagging until they get what they want from inside the "crib/cage" each time they get into their room. Double-Ugh! I'd love to hear some advice! (especially from the mommy of twin girls, Heather)