Bye, Bye Baby

Ugh. Sabine was a tireless and dramatic mini mental patient yesterday. She napped for thirty-five minutes and then cried off and on until bedtime for no good reason (no, really. there was NOTHING wrong). And bedtime was its own adventure. It took her over an hour to fall asleep. She cried if I held her. She cried if I didn't hold her. She cried when I lay next to her. She cried when I didn't lay next to her. She threw the pillow off the bed, then cried because she wanted the pillow. Pure torture. And I'm pretty sure I cried  at some point out of pure frustration.

She finally passed out at 9:45. Dude, I can barely stay up that late. She's always been an early riser (lucky me!), but we just had a stretch where she was sleeping until seven. She would just play in her crib for maybe an hour before screaming at the top of her longs to be plucked from her little cage. But it looks like those days are over. I was sure she would sleep later today because her nap was so short and because she went to bed so late. Nope. The little monster started rattling her cage (kicking the bars of her crib repeatedly) at exactly 6:25. I watched her for a bit on the video monitor and then rolled over and turned my back to the monitor, thinking I could lie in bed for at least another thirty minutes. Five minutes later, I hear a big thump. I flip over and check the monitor. The crib was empty. That twenty-month-old, uncivilized powerhouse CLIMBED OUT OF HER CAGE. She finally figured it out. I knew it was coming. But isn't that supposed to happen when they're like two or two-and-a-half? I secretly dream about hammering posts to the top of the crib in an effort to make  it taller and keep her inside. But then I couldn't lift her out. I've heard there are crib extenders, tent-like coverings, but they're supposedly hazardous and can choke or suffocate them. Really? Are they sure about that? I'm sure she'd be fine. She could loosen whatever might get wrapped around her neck, couldn't she? I mean she just figured out how to climb out of that thing at 1.5 years-old. Besides, I have a monitor so I could see her and rescue her before anything happened, right?

I'm kidding. I won't buy the crib extenders. But I do fear going to sleep tonight. I'm hoping she waits until after six to climb out of that easy-to-escape crib again. I'm in no way, shape or form ready to wake in the middle of the night and perform some Super Nanny-style back-to-your-bed sleep training (We'd let her sleep in our bed if she would actually sleep, but she wakes and cries throughout the night.).

It's time for a bigger bed. It's time for knee pads and a helmet. It's time to seriously think about if we are really ready to do this all over again with a second one. And it's time to remember that, good or bad, no phase lasts forever and that as a parent you have to just roll with your little one, maintaining a flexible mind--and body--as often as you can.