WARNING: Don't let this sweet little face trick you!
She may look cute and innocent, but recently she has become a nighttime terror.
Olivia first demonstrated her ability to climb out of her crib when she was only 15 months. That's right...only 15 months! At the time, however, she scared herself with this new found ability and was too chicken to climb out of bed when she was alone in her room. She would occasionally perform her trick when we were in the room with her, but for the most part, she just stayed in her bed and let her vocal chords let us know when she needed us or wanted out.
Well, that all changed last week when during the middle of the night, I heard a faint whimper followed by our bedroom door opening. After laying there in shock for a few seconds, I hopped out of bed and took her back to her room. She didn't want to be left alone so I laid on the floor next to her bed for 30-40 minutes before she fell asleep. A couple hours later, I was again awoke by a little person coming into my room. We repeated the same scenario. She then came into our room a final time around 5:30, ready to start her day. So needless to say, it was a night short of good sleep for mommy and daddy.
Now, multiply this times 7 nights in a row plus some longer stretches of time laying/half-sleeping on the floor next to her bed and Olivia had some pretty grouchy parents. We were in desperate need of a solution. We looked into buying a crib tent to keep her in, but due to a recent recall, those are hard to find now. We stopped by Ikea last weekend to check out their toddler beds, but we didn't like their selection. So earlier this week, we decided to take the mean parent and discipline approach. No more laying next to her on the floor while she fell asleep and every time she got out of bed, she was going to get a spanking.
The first night doing this was terrible. Just awful. Every time she got out of her bed, I would put her directly back in her bed and leave the room. She would cry loudly while she promptly climbed right back out of her bed and followed me down the hall. I gave her a spanking and put her back in her bed. This repeated for probably 20-25 times! I lost count after while. She screamed for around a hour and a half. The hardest thing was that all she wanted was for me or Geoff to lay next to her bed and hold her hand, but we had had enough of her floor and were determined there would be no more. Finally she fell asleep in her bed in exhaustion. Of course, the next morning, she had completely forgotten about her middle of the night terrorizing and was full of smiles and hugs and kisses. Let me assure you, her parents had not forgotten and were feeling the pains of lost sleep. The caffeine was flowing at work the next day! The next night was a slight improvement. She still came into our room on two separate occasions during the night and both times involved loud crying and spankings, but the overall count of climbs out of her bed and the number of spankings decreased. By Wednesday, she came into our room only once during the night. I put her back in her bed. She got out once. I spanked her. And then she stayed and fell asleep. Last night, she didn't wake up at all during the night! Hallelujah!!! Of course, I've probably jinxed us now by blogging about her one night accomplishment.
We still need to look into buying a toddler bed or getting the necessary hardware to convert her crib to a bed, but hopefully we've bought ourselves a little bit more time before that is absolutely necessary. Although I know she can't stay in her crib forever, I'm really not ready for her to move out of her crib as that means she really is a big girl and not a baby anymore. (I've actually known this for awhile but continually try to deny it :) )
