Battle of Will vs. Skill

Houdhini strikes again. That's what we've called Sam since he was just little and learned to open child-proof doors, climb over the baby gates and open all manner of things little babies are not supposed to be able to. Now he has learned to climb out of his crib . . . and into Ben's. This is a problem.

After several successful stealth missions (he's very quick and quiet) and no sleep in sight, Terry finally removed the bottom bolts of the crib and placed his crib mattress and future toddler bed mattress directly on the floor so Sam would have to climb an extra precious few inches. We also started locking the gate at the top of the stairs, just in case. This was successful . . . for 48 hours. Yesterday, I ended up spending over an hour parked in front of his door to escort him, every 2 to 3 minutes, back to his crib. I even attempted using the toddler bed but he is too young to be able to wander around freely upstairs - and my hope was that climbing in and out of the crib would at least wear him out. I know I, at least, was exhausted.

Today, while playing with the boys upstairs, I saw his skill in action - and countered with a mission of my own. I would try various techniques until I finally found a solution that would keep him from being able to climb out BEFORE I tried to put him down for a nap.

Attempt # 1: The crib mattresses directly on the floor. I even used his "blankie" and soother as bait, inside and then outside the crib to see if he could climb both in and out.

SCORE: 1 for baby

Attempt # 2: Push toddler bed up against crib so "Houdhini" can't push the crib and squeeze out. I have high hopes for this solution. Again, blankie and soother as "bait".

SCORE: 2 for baby

Attempt 3: Okay, this is it. Push dresser in front of crib. Please oh please oh please let this work or we will all never sleep again.

WAIT! Can it be ...

Ah, the sweet sounds of success. Success for today at least . . . he IS Houdhini after all.

**** much, much later - same day ***** Is that the sound of Ben's door being rattled from the outside??? Yep. SCORE? Baby: 3, Mommy: zilch. Houdhini breaks free once again.