Broken Dreams

Have you ever stopped to ponder the brilliance that is a crib?
No really, I hear you argue that it is a glorified cage to corral little monkeys in attempts to contain the chaos. (I do not disagree) BUT it is also a safety net for little babies who don't know how to keep themselves safe. It is a contained snuggle-haven. A place of rest.

Unless it is broken. Again.  (the video is from last time)



Earlier, Pencil blew the sliding side right off our crib. It is an older crib. It's been all 3 of my monkeys after having been a hand-me-down to us. We packing taped it back together, and it held quite well, until this morning.

"Uh, Mom? You better come see this." NEVER a good way to start the day. I dragged myself out of bed. (each of the boys was up twice last night) to find the 'sliding' side of the crib barely hanging on by two diagonal corners. Pencil was standing sheepishly in the corner of the crib. All he had to say for himself was, "down?"

I tried to tape it again, but I'm afraid the jury-rigging days are over. I did not realize the true essence of this problem until nap time.

I remember training Grapes and then Sock to sleep in a big kid bed. We started around 2 1/2 and we started with naptimes. Pencil is nearly two, I figured it would be much the same. Silly me.

I showed him the new 'big boy' bed (three sided crib- he wasn't buying it either) and then I put him down, and laid myself on the floor near by. I told him goodnight and closed my eyes.

Granted- I usually don't stay and listen to his whole 'fall asleep' routine. I usually snuggle for one minute and then leave him to it. NOT today. He was in NO hurry to fall asleep. He bounced. He threw his blankets. He climbed down to get his blankets. He sang to his MoMo Monkey. He leaned mostly out of the bed with his head. Then with his feet. Then with MoMo.  Then he poked me in the eye, just to see if I was still in there.
Then he started naming the colors to himself. (he doesn't know his colors) Gween. Bwee-ooo. G-g-g-Gwee gween. Bwee-ooo. Bweooo. 
At this point I thought we were set. He was holding still. He was chanting softly to himself. I peeked to see him holding MoMo on his lap and talking to him. Excellent.
Then he dive-bombed my stomach. I almost puked.

Come-on, Mom. There's no side on this bed now. It's a whole new world out there. Why would I be sleeping?!?!

I had forgotten those first days of big bed training, but that jolt to the guts reminded me. I held Grapes on the bed with me until the wiggles were all wiggled out. I sang and rubbed Sockie's back for endless afternoons.  WHAT am I thinking doing this now, with a not-quite-two-year-old??

I'm thinking I don't want to shell out for a new crib.

After 30 minutes, I kissed him and put him back in the bed (again) and left him in there with the door shut. Heaven help what the room looks like when I go back in. And Heaven help us when he figures out how to open the door.