Natalya at 25 months
On January 15th, I was enjoying a girls night out at a friends house when I got a message from my sweet husband that said, "Houston we have a problem!" Followed shortly by a video message of our "just barely" two year old climbing out of her crib. Oh no!! As a new parent, when your child does something new for the "first time" its really fun/cute. Well this "cute" new first was quickly short lived. I got home that night from my friends around 10:30 to find Talya and Colten still awake watching TV. She was ridiculous that night. Finally around midnight she fell asleep in our bed (Big No No in my opinion) only to wake up an hour later around 1 am. I took her downstairs and we watched a couple movies, then it was Colten's turn. She finally kicked the bucket around 4:30 AM!
I kind of went into panic mode the next week and was crazily doing everything I could think of to keep her trapped in her crib.
My first priority was to purchase a crib tent. Well that didn't happen because crib tent's have been recalled and you can not buy one anywhere. So then came
all of the following...
This worked for an entire day!
She wouldn't climb out of the front of the pack-n-play and was trapped on all other sides.
But then... climbing out of the front wasn't so hard and my new theory was out the door.
So then we tried this...
This method bought us another couple of days until she figured out that grabbing the side of the crib rail and putting her foot on the pack-n-play made it easy to climb into the crib and from there she would climb out of the crib.
This idea lasted about an hour until she just moved the pack-n-play out of her way to get to the door.
Again, this lasted a short time before she opened the door.
So then, we bought some child proof door handles and put one on the inside of her room. It worked to keep her in her bedroom but not in her crib.
After a week or more of trying all these ways to keep her in the crib, I was about ready to give up. But then we had several people tell us that we just need to sit in her room and make her stay in the crib until she falls asleep. This is what I was NOT wanting to do. In the past, all we had to do was lay her down with her Cubby bear, blanket and binkie and she'd go right to sleep. It took all of about 30 seconds and my job was done. I was a little selfish thinking I was going to have to sit in there now until she falls asleep. However, each night the time got shorter and shorter until now, (at least at night time) we
usually don't have to stay in there anymore! Nap time is another story! She will not stay in her crib unless you are in the room. It takes her anywhere from 30 min to over an hour to go to sleep. I wish there was an easier way! If I lock her in her room at naptime, it ends up looking like this... or worse.
I'm just glad she hasn't figured out how to take her clean clothes out of the dresser. I can deal with the clothes from the hamper because it's an easy clean up.
ASIDE from my challenging month of January, we do find her to say and do some adorable things.
*At her 2 year check-up she was 35 inches and 29 lbs. She's had to have a couple blood draws because she has high hemoglobin. We're still in the process of figuring out what that means and have another blood draw scheduled in March.
*She is starting to get to a point where we can reason with her on some things.
*She still doesn't eat well. She won't try new foods (unless its fake) and barely eats enough to stay alive, even though it doesn't look like it.
*She got a kitchen for her Birthday/Christmas and LOVES it. She plays with it everyday and pretends to eat all of the food. She'll frequently bring us something to eat and say, "Eat it, Mommy!" "Talya eat it!" "Mmmmm!"
*She likes to dress her Cubby Bear in a diaper, clothes and boots!
*She will not say the prayer but is very good about folding her arms and closing her eyes.
* She is not interested in Potty Training, other than for a game. She'll often say, "Talya Potty Me!" She just likes to get naked and play by the potty but hasn't once used the big potty.
*She likes to pick out what show she gets to watch. This is how it goes, "I watch.... ummmm.... BALTO..... ummmm...... Einstein...... ummmm..... Cindawella"
*See waves at everyone and says to them, "See Ya!"
*When it's time to clean up her toys she sings over and over, "cleem up cleem up everybody cleem up."
*She has to hug and kiss EVERYTHING. The other night she was putting the play food back into the box and she was kissing every piece. And kisses don't come without hugs.
When Daddy leaves she always wants a kiss and hug, then she always wants Dad to kiss and hug Mom.
*She knows her name is Talya Brwackin, Mommy is Meegin Brwackin, and Daddy is Colteen Brwackin.
*It never fails that Daddy is always downstairs in the office studying when its time for her bedtime routine. I'll help her get her PJ's on and teeth brushed, then we head to the stairs and she will YELL, "Colteen! Now! Hurry! Up!" (I have no idea where she learned that.) :)
And we finally got a little snow to play in.
