Smooth Criminal

I was awoken this morning at 6:30 a.m. by the sound of little feet pitter pattering all around the house.  As I sleepily drug myself out of bed and started drudging across the room to investigate, I mentally scolded myself for staying up so late to watch the director's cut of Twilight (who does that!).   When I reached the threshold of our bedroom and stepped into the hallway, the pitter patter noises came to an abrupt halt. A quick glance to my left confirmed my suspicions... frozen in a guilty pose half-way up the stairway was little Jakey - with a BIG smile on his face.  'Done Seepin?' he asked me.  YUP.

I had mixed feelings about moving Jacob to his toddler bed for several reasons, the escape-artist factor being at the top of the list.  Not only will it be the final time we pack away the crib, but we now have to deal with this little free agent wandering around at God only knows what times of the morning (and night!).  I was secretly kind of happy when he refused to stay put Friday night after we first introduced the bed to him. The gravitational pull to experiment with his new found freedom was far greater than that of his little bed and pillow. He kept sneaking out at random intervals to see if we were still keeping tabs on him, which of course we were.  After hauling him back for the 50th time, Ben decided to put him back in his crib.  'waaaaaaahhhhhhhh' - not happy.

So, yesterday at nap time when I offered the bed option to him again, he was very receptive.  He only wandered out three or four times before he abided by my firm instructions to 'STAY'.  It was so cute to see him sleeping in the bed!  And he was very proud of himself when he woke up, coming out on his own to announce to us, "ME WATE UP'!  

Last night it only took two tries to get him to stay put.  However, I'm thinking a little gate across his door might be a nice feature to add for after he falls asleep.  As long as he drifts to dreamland with the illusion that he can escape at any moment, he may still cooperate.  

Ben (who had fallen asleep during the director's cut, and apparently didn't wake up when I went up to bed) reported to me this morning that he also returned the whiney wanderer to his little bed at about 4:00 am.   

Hmmm.  Gate.  Definitely.