A few days ago Jonathan was watching T while I was at a meeting, and when I came back he said, "Something AMAZING happened." I was like, "OH! What?!" He then told me that while he thought our son was sleeping soundly in his crib, he heard a crashing of toys on the floor in Talmage's bedroom. Sure enough, our little monkey had climbed OUT of his crib unharmed and had begun to wreck havoc with his toys. Once Talmage understood that he could do this, it didn't stop. All night long he was getting out and banging on the door or playing with toys. We weren't sure how he was doing it because the crib mattress was already set at the lowest position...so I went in there while he was awake in the crib, took his favorite giraffe (Spot), put it on the floor and said, "Okay, Talmage, come get Spot." That didn't work, so then I pulled out the blocks and said, "Play with these blocks!" and that did the trick...He pulled himself up using the corner of his crib, suspended his entire body on the top bar, then slid his legs down slowly and gently on the floor. He clapped for himself, then waddled over to the blocks. Ah ha.
So, we knew that the safest option was to convert his crib to a toddler bed. This was not something I anticipated doing at 17 months, but what other choice did we have? One of those times he could very easily "land" wrong and really hurt himself. That night I put pillows all around his crib- just in case.
The next day we took the side down, baby-proofed his room from top to bottom (not an easy task), and prepared ourselves for a long, hard journey. The first time in his big boy bed was a mid-day nap, and after 2 1/2 hours, I walked in to find him standing in front of his bed with his head on the mattress, crying in exhaustion and frustration. He was actually tired enough to let me rock him to sleep. Not what I had imagined, but at least he was in there!
As the days passed each naptime got a little easier, but not by much. It is a really tiring process but well worth it once he finally conks out :) A lot of times we will find him asleep in front of the door (trying to look out through the crack) or in some other strange position...
I also learned that this age is a common time to switch to a toddler bed. Lots of people are doing it! Who knew? I would have kept him in the crib forever :D
He is learning to say more words, too: hi, shoes, juice, ee-ee (monkey), and uh-oh. For the longest time he wasn't verbal at all, just signing everything. So its pretty fun to teach him how to sound out real words! He also has some new signs: hurt, sorry, and big fish. He signs to Wheels On The Bus, Head Shoulders Knees & Toes, and Itsy Bitsy Spider. I can't even believe how much of it he absorbs...
And the last big achievement (wish I had a video of this one)..HE CAN EAT WITH UTENSILS! He's not a pro but the food generally ends up in his mouth one way or another...
Each day is something new. It sure is fun to be this boys momma :)
**edit** OH! I almost forgot! Talmage is in nursery now! That really makes him seem older...but he loves it and so do I :)
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