Jailbreak

The twins both climbed out of their cribs at naptime one day in February, at 19 months. Now, I'll admit I'm not surprised that Mirabelle could do it. She is super agile and climbs all over everything. I think she could have done it several months ago, had she thought about really going for it. But Julie- that's the real shocker. She's a little slower and far less agile. Not a climber. I think the extra 3 pounds she has on her sister makes it harder for her to do things like that. So when Caroline came running into my room during nap time, saying, "the babies are in the hallway", I was flabbergasted. I came running and there they were. Ugh. How is this happening?

I put them back in their cribs, and 5 minutes later, they were out again. I put them back, and yet again, both were out again. Finally, we gave up. I told Mike to go get the screwdriver, adn we were going to take the side off so they were both effectively in toddler beds. So we did that, and installed a hook on their door and tried for the nap again. They were laughing and screaming and getting into all sorts of trouble. I came in after leaving them there for a while, and they were both wedged behind one of the cribs. I have no idea how they got there!

So we made it through nap time (I don't think they slept). Then at bedtime, Nana and Papa were babysitting and tried to get them down, which took an hour and was unsuccessful. Then we got home and tried for another 1.5 hours of me sitting on the floor in their room until they passed out. The next day at naptime, they were up again, running around and we just decided to let them go at it. I think we found them both asleep on the floor later on. Oy.

So we gave up. Nana went out and bought us some crib-tents, which was absolutely the right route to go. Everyone was happily trapped again. The girls didn't seem to mind the tents- in fact, I think they were comforted to be back in the space they've been in before (like dogs in their crates). The freedom was just too much at this age.

But more than anything, mama and dada are happy again. So everybody is happy!