Sunday, August 30, 2009

Another Milestone

Gareth has hit another milestone this past week - climbing out of the crib. I was wondering if he'd ever figure that out before we moved him to a big bed. I'm hoping to purchase a mattress for him this next week, so he squeezed this accomplishment in at the last minute. Gareth's been really good about waiting patiently in his crib until we decide to wake up and get him. I was therefore quite surprised yesterday as I was getting ready for the day to hear him crying and to hear the sound get nearer to our room. When Ryan got up this morning he walked out to find Gareth in the living room playing with books. And when Gareth woke up from his nap this afternoon he failed to emit his usual cry for me, but quietly got himself out of the crib and came to find us. It's rather nice to have him get himself out of bed - or will be until he does it at 1 am.

3 comments:

Alanna said...

I may be a terrible person, but when we switched Bentley to a big boy bed (and yes, they just HAVE to be big boy beds, don't they?), I put one of those child-proof thingies on the inside of the door so he can't get out. He'll just knock and call for me when he's ready to get up-- and yes, I always come running!-- but it really helps with him going to sleep at bedtime!

Good luck with that with Gareth!

Erin said...

Yeah, so apparently we didn't have to wait until 1 am. We put him down tonight at 7:30 and he came running out at 7:45. But by 8:45 he'd finally given up and cried himself to sleep.

We thought about doing that tonight, Alanna. But since he's still in the crib until we get a mattress, we decided against it. He can get out of the crib, but I'm not sure he can get back in.

Momof8 said...

I remember spending a lot of time in the early evenings standing just outside the children's bedroom door watching them through a crack in the door to make sure they followed the rule: When it's bedtime, you must stay in bed. You don't have to go right to sleep, but you must stay in bed. Eventually, each child figured out that as long as they stayed quietly in their bedroom and Mom didn't find out, they could sneak out of bed and play with toys or sleep in the closet or (eventually) read a book.

Right now, Savannah has a hard time getting up in the morning for school (Wow! Kindergarten!). It is mostly my fault for not getting her up earlier in the weeks before school and for not being able to consistently get her to bed early enough at night. We're working on it!

I'm sure you two will do just fine with Gareth, as long as he understands the rule (stay in bed at bedtime) and he is taken back to bed every time he gets out.