Adventures in a Toddler Bed

A couple of weeks ago I went in to check on Ike and to change his diaper before I went to bed, which is something we do basically every night. I found him stark naked and curled into a ball in his crib. It was hilarious, but only because he had not made any sorts of messes in his naked state.

The next morning I was feeding Felix in my bed when I heard the pitter patter of Ike running down the hall and into a room. He entered with great triumph, arms spread wide and declared, "TA-DA!"

That afternoon we tried to put him down for a nap, and as soon as Eric left the room, Ike followed him. After that, Eric observed Ike as he climbed out of the bed. It was apparent that the crib would no longer contain him. That day the crib morphed into a toddler bed, and we placed a child-lock on the inside handle of Ike's doorknob so he couldn't get out. With great skill he got the child-lock off the doorknob and came darting out of his room again. Clearly, he was quite proud of himself. (The crazy thing about the whole crib situation is that he sleeps on the floor at his babysitter's house, and he stays on the floor in his designated spot without any reminders from his babysitter. Not only that, but even after he wakes up he stays in his spot until she comes to get him.)

That evening Eric outsmarted the toddler by taping up the childlock so Ike couldn't get it off his door. He was trapped in his room.*

Since then, he has fallen asleep on the floor for pretty much every nap and every bedtime. Each night in addition to changing his diaper, we also move him to his bed.

Twice he has fallen out of his bed. On one of those occasions when Eric went to help him he found Ike, disoriented, trying to crawl under his bed. I once came upon him on the floor, after having put him in his bed. His legs were under his bed, and his head was out in the open.

On Sunday night Eric found him sleeping in his laundry basket, with his legs hanging out. That's the best one so far. Since then he learned to use his laundry basket as a stool to enable him to reach his light switch. With the lights on he was free to play in his room endlessly. Obviously the laundry basket has been moved to Felix's room since that occasion.

I imagine that one of these days he'll choose to sleep in his bed, but I'm not counting on it being any time soon.

*Yes, we now regularly lock our child in his room. It is an effective way to get him to go to sleep. If you think this makes us monstrous parents, then you are entitled to that opinion, but I don't need to hear about it.