Big Transition Up Ahead

*sigh*

Lily Belle has finally figured out she can climb out of her crib.

I knew this time was coming soon but I'm just not ready for it yet. The crib was a safe place. A place to put her down in when the night time gas was causing too many tantrums [mylicon is now gold in our house] and a place for her to play in when 5am was too early for my little eyes to take. It was a "wind down" area for nap time and a peaceful vessel at bed time.

Now it's dangerous.

It all started yesterday during nap time. Lily and I got her diaper ready (trying cloth at nap time even though that's another break through peeing time.) We then sat down to read a The Spirit of Christmas (seriously one of the sweetest books. I LOVE Nancy Tillman books! And I got it at Kohls for $5 and all of those proceeds went to Children's hospitals!) Anyway, I digress, and of course, we had to read Elmo [again.]
I wanted to rock her to sleep (like I usually do) but she pointed to her crib to be laid down so I kissed and hugged and asked her to please go to sleep and try not to poop in your wonderfully stuffed cloth diaper!
I said I'd give her 30 minutes. I lasted about 5minutes and wanted to go in and rock her but instead I went and took a shower. It was bliss. Until...

I heard a slight *thunk* I stopped rinsing my hair out and listened. No crying, so I kept washing and in the back of my mind I knew. I hoped and crossed my fingers that it wasn't true but when I toweled off I turned on the video monitor and looked all over the crib.
She was gone!
I scanned around the room and found her by the closet door with her stuffed animals. I skipped my usual lotion routine, didn't bother to brush my hair, threw on some clothes, took a deep breath and opened the door to her room. "Hi Mommy!"
She was totally nonchalant. Like I found her like this everyday.
She was playing with a toy spoon from her kitchen and babbling on about how blue the spoon was.
I picked her up and calmly told her that she was to stay in her crib (please?) and proceeded to change her [poopy] cloth diaper. I then rocked her to sleep and put her down.

I thought that would be the end of it. I handled it right, right? I didn't want to make a big deal out of it and scare her which would probably lead to a tantrum. Or make her want to do it again and again.

I didn't really think about it at bed time because we follow such a strict routine that she's half asleep by the time I lay her [awake] in her crib. She did wake up crying a few times but no escapes. Until...

5:15am.

*ugh* I heard it. I didn't hear any talking or moving around or anything that started it all, I mean, Hello? It was 5am and I was sleeping deeply. But I'm a light sleeper now, as I'm sure most moms are. I heard a *thunk* and then "Mommy? Daddy?" It sounded so easy for her!
I turned to a sleeping Den, "I think she climbed out again."
I threw on some clothes and found her right inside the door of her room (thank God she hasn't figured out door knobs yet...though I'm sure that's right down the road!)
I tried to bring her in to sleep with us but that lasted all of 30 minutes.

What happened to my baby!?

So  now it's time to stop thinking about transitioning her to a toddler bed and actually DO IT. Dennis is out of town this weekend so I'm not sure if we'll start before or after. I have a feeling 5am's are going to be the norm for awhile....although I secretly hope she'll wake up and go play for an hour but I doubt that would happen since she's super thirsty when she wakes up even if I leave a cup of water in her crib.

Well, wish us luck! We'll be taking the front rail off the crib sometime in the next few days!