Credle Family: Our Journey to the.....Big Beds!

Daniel and Anabella were climbing before they even knew how to walk....

Here's Daniel, in December 2010, climbing over his sister!

And here he is, in January 2011, having climbed his way into a basket.

And he wasn't fazed at all when he fell out backwards!

In Early February, Daniel and Anabella both began climbing into the dishwasher.

Next, they were climbing into drawers....

....and onto tables.

And, before we knew it, at 12 months, they were climbing stairs!

Given all the practice they'd had climbing things they weren't supposed to climb, combined with the practice they had at the park this spring/summer climbing playground equipment, we were a little surprised when they were almost 2 years old and had yet to climb out of their cribs. I had purchased toddler beds over the summer, thinking that with Daniel and Anabella and their love of climbing, it would only be a matter of time before they were climbing out of their cribs.

Shortly after Christmas, it happened. Cliff was back at work, and I had put the sweet babies down for their afternoon nap. I had just walked downstairs when I thought I heard something come from their room. As I was on my way up the stairs, I was greeted in the hallway by none other than Dan Credle grinning from ear to ear, carrying his bear.

That night, the same thing happened. We put Daniel in his crib. Daniel crawled out of his crib. Next day naptime. Same thing. Next night. Same. You get the pattern. And he didn't just crawl out once. No, we would put him back in his crib several times (always more with me at naptime than when Cliff would put him down at night).

Albeit scary, it was comical to watch his routine. He'd first throw out all his stuff. Blankets, bear, lovey. Then, he'd crawl out- he'd push himself up and then hold onto the railing until his feet touched the ground. Next, he'd grab all his bedding and venture out the door. It was hard not to laugh. Cliff called him the lil' hitchhiker.

Here's the lil' hitchhiker one day during naptime.

Since the toddler beds were ready, and it appeared Daniel was ready, we decided to move the beds into the room alongside the cribs to ease the transition. We had two cribs, two toddler beds, a dresser, bookshelf and rocker in the nursery, allowing walking room only for us. Fortunately, we had moved out the changing table because my cousin Lindsay bought it to use it for her baby girl due in April.

The first day I put Daniel and Anabella in their toddler beds for naptime, they went to sleep immediately. Easy peasy! I was wondering what took me so long!

That night, they had colds and Cliff and I both agreed, since it was nighttime and they were sick, they better sleep in their cribs. Next day naptime, I let them sleep in big beds again.

Not so easy. Like the day before, they went to sleep at the same time and followed the same routine as always: brushed teeth, read books, rocked. Only instead of going to sleep, I heard them babbling to one another. Several minutes later, when I continued to hear babbling and what sounded like way too much fun happening in their room, I went back in to check out what was happening. Sure enough, when I entered the room, it looked like there had been a tornado!

Give Daniel and Anabella 5 minutes, and they can completely destroy a room. As frustrating as it was, I had to laugh. "Hat," they both said as they pointed to their summer hats upon their heads. "What is this," I asked. To which Anabella answered, "pool" as she held up Daniel's swimtrunks and "books" they both said.

They answered my question....and correctly. They had emptied bins: one was swimwear, one was diapers, and one was a bin of I Can Read books that they are too little for (though apparently not because they seemed to enjoy them because of course we had to read a few). I had removed all of their toys to the playroom prior to bringing in the toddler beds to avoid this from happening. The only things in the room were furniture, books, basket of stuffed animals and the bins on the shelving system, which I didn't think they'd bother. HA! Think again, Mommy.

I wish I had gotten a picture of the room. It, along with the expressions on their faces wearing those cute swim hats, was priceless. Needless to say, I removed the bins from the shelving system.

Within a few days, it was clear that Daniel was ready for his big bed full time. When we asked him where he wanted to sleep- crib or big bed- he always replied big bed and seemed to be sleeping fine. Anabella, on the other hand, will often tell us she wants to sleep in the big bed, but usually calls us back in after a few minutes and says, "crib."

On Monday, January 23rd, nearly two weeks since he'd first crawled out, we removed Daniel's crib. He'd been sleeping in his big bed 100% of the time for several days, so we figured why keep it?

By this point, I think Daniel was wondering what took us so long! For sentimental purposes, I wanted a picture of Daniel in his crib one last time.

Did I really think he was going to lie down and pretend to sleep?

Here's Daddy pretending to make him get back in the crib.

Bye bye, Daniel's Crib!

Hello, Daniel's Big Boy Bed! (oh, and hello, Solomon)

We are planning to leave Anabella's crib in the room for now. We are confident that, like Daniel, she will let us know when it is time.

Here's Daniel, last February, in his crib.

Here he is in Early September 2010, 6 months old, when we were still living in the townhouse. I remember taking this picture because I thought it was so cute that he was sleeping on his side!

This photo has nothing to do with this post, but I found it while looking for crib pictures of Daniel and couldn't help but include it because it is one of my very favorite pictures of the sweet babies when we first brought them home from the hospital in March 2010. They were sleeping in the pack-n-play on the main level of the townhouse. The memory of Cliff and I keeping track of their feedings on the yellow legal pads we kept beside the recliner so that we could each take turns sleeping brings tears to my eyes when I see this picture taken in the midst of it all. The peacefulness of those early days/weeks when we'd just sit and cuddle them all day/night while they'd just sleep away warms my heart.