end of an era

jack learned how to climb out of his crib yesterday.

this was arguably the most monumental weekend of our married life, for reasons i will expound upon later, but the transition to toddler bed is by far the biggest milestone of them all. and i am NOT happy about it.

last night we were out late with friends and came home to put jack to bed a bit past his usual bedtime, but he was really energetic so he didn't seem to mind. b went to the gym, i put jack down and then vacuumed the apartment. as i was putting the vacuum away, i was startled to hear little footsteps running toward me down the hall. jack has NEVER gotten out of his crib by himself before, let alone opened his bedroom door, so i was pretty surprised to see him.

i let him stay up until b got home to lower the crib to its last notch, but as soon as we put jack back in it -- he climbed out again. and again and again. the 4th time, he hurt his chin on the way down and was showing no signs of stopping any time soon so i decided resistance was futile. thanks to my amazing in-laws who bought us that crib, it's a convertible, so b took the front panel off and turned it into a toddler bed on the spot. by the time that was done it was almost 10 p.m. so jack naturally fell asleep pretty quick.

today he took NO nap because we have church at 1 p.m. and if you think he'd stay in his bed for an early naptime you have another thing coming. he was surprisingly happy when i picked him up from nursery, too happy for the low amount of sleep he was running on, and i started to get nervous. please please please do not let this kid be giving up naptime! we came home and he asked to go to bed at 6:15 so i happily obliged, but it is now almost 8 p.m. and i can still hear him in there, playing and talking and crying. (oh, i should also add we flipped his doorknob around so we can lock him in his room. at least i have that going for me :)

all my friends keep saying it will take at least a week to get him back to his normal sleeping ways, assuming he goes back to them at all, so i'm prepared to wait it out -- but i was just so unprepared for this! moving to a toddler bed was nowhere on my horizon and i am NOT ready to move to the next phase. i'll be the first to admit i use the crib as a babysitter -- not for any long amounts of time, but if i have a conference call or a lot of work to do i'll throw him in his crib early, shut the door and let him play until he falls asleep in there. now he'll be so un-contained...and, heaven forbid, if he decides to give up naps altogether i don't know what i'll do. ughhhh. why do kids have to become independent anyway?! i much prefer having little babies who are easier to control ;)