Alex just turned 18 months old. A couple of weeks ago he figured out that he could swing his leg over the top of his crib rail, and pull himself up and out of his crib. Well like any new discovery a young toddler makes, this became his favorite thing to do . And to our dismay, within a matter of days he became quite proficient at it.

We had been hoping to keep Alex locked up in his crib as long as possible (ideally until highschool, but we would have settled for his 2nd birthday). But since he was already getting out, there was no point in keeping him in there and possibly getting hurt.

We explored our options:
1. crib tent (aka “baby jail”)– a net like canopy that affixes to the top of the crib and keeps curious toddlers from escaping (yay!)
2. day bed– taking off the front rail of Alex’s crib and allowing him the freedom to come and go as he pleases (egads!)

Well, one expensive trip to BuyBuyBaby later and a frenzied morning of trying to assemble said crib tent while entertaining a very spirited toddler, I realized that option #1 was not going to work out. (Note to new parents: stay away from trendy non-standard cribs no matter how beautiful they are. Most crib accessories- such as mobiles, crib toys, teething guards, bumpers… are not made for them!!!)

So off came the front rail. This is a video of Alex’s initial reaction:

Multiply the climbing and jumping off the bed by about a thousand and that’s what I’ve been dealing with.

Lord, help me.