. .: A Whole Lotta Firsts

This Christmas break seems to be the weeks for firsts in our household. It all started on Christmas day when we put Oliver down for his nap at Mimi's and Papa's house in his pack and play. We heard him wake up from his nap and talk to himself and then next thing we new he was out of his pack and play and, very cooly, walking into the kitchen and family room like "it's no big deal or anything but I did just get out from my pack and play." Well we didn't think much of it until the next day when we put him down for nap in his crib just like any other day. I went out for a run, Michael worked on his computer, and Oliver talked to himself and his monkeys like he always does. But when I opened the front door and stepped in the house I heard an ever so soft little knock at Oliver's bedroom door (on the inside of his door that is) and a little voice saying, "mommy." I looked up at Michael and said three little words that changed everything, "he got out." So Michael swiftly got up from the computer and opened Oliver's door. There he was standing there looking ever so pleased with himself and repeating those three little words, "I got out." Michael put him back in his crib and told he was to stay in there and that he was to take a nap. Ha. Michael then lay down at the foot of the crib and waited to see what would happen. And, not more than a few seconds later, there went Oliver. One foot over, perched precariously on the top of the crib balanced perfectly, then the other foot over, and a very graceful decent to the ground. Inside our hearts we knew, it was ALL over. The days of two kids in cribs were long gone. Goodbye crib and hello big boy bed.

So Michael got his tools and quickly removed the front rail of the crib. We didn't have the smaller rail to put back on ( it was at my moms) so we put some cushions down and told Oliver this is your new bed, your big boy bed. We attempted to teach him how to lay on a pillow and use a blanket (hard to remember when this was a foreign concept but at some point it was for us all I suppose). Then we said okay you need to take a nap and left the room. Only a short minute passed when there he was, in all his glory, standing in the middle of our living room. Our escape artist was at it again and now he was into opening doors. What were we going to do? WE tried again, one more time, putting him in there and telling him it was time to take a nap. We said, "Mommy and Daddy are going to take naps too, we are tired." to which he responded, "no you're not." And before I could even get settled in the recliner for what I was hoping was a moment of peace I heard the door open and a little voice call out, "Hey Michael, this is not working." Well that sent Michael and I right over the edge. We began to laugh histerically. Tears streaming down our face we heard Oliver say, "I am not joking." Yep, that is exactly what he said and with no lack of dramatic flair and attitude. It was then we decided to give up on a nap for that day. Oliver- 1 point. Mommy and Daddy- 0.

And the saga continues. That night he was so exhausted that all he could do was put up enough of a fight for Michael to lay on the floor next to his bed until he drifted off to sleep. The score was even. BUT then there was nap time the next day. He really liked the idea of a big boy bed. In fact the idea had put a little bit of an extra jump in his step, a sort of grown-up swagger you might say. But the reality of actually sleeping in the bed he was not such a fan of. We once again tried to put him down for his nap. But the second we would leave the room he would run to the door and open it up and cry and scream at the top of his lungs. So we tried a child's gate secured to the outside of the door frame. Ah this must be it, we thought, this will solve our problems. But we failed to remember that he had already successfully climbed and dismounted from the crib so why not this pitiful little child's gate? Now it was time to get serious. He had gotten out and woken up his brother and it was time to lay the smack down. ( I should mention that at this point Michael had made a run to Home Depot to purchase something to go on the door to make it impossible for little man to open). And so I said, "Oliver, you must stay in here and take a nap. I have to go help your brother who is crying because you woke him up. I love you. Take a nap." And who knows why but this one request he seemed to listen to and heed. When Michael got home and went in to attach the contraption he had bought he found Oliver just sitting there, chilling on his chair. And so finally he took a nap in his big boy bed. Oliver-1 Mommy and Daddy- 2. We win.

However I must add that every morning and every day after he wakes up from nap he says, "this is not working." We ask, "Your bed?" He responds, "Yes, bed is not working." And he continues to insist that his bed needs batteries. In his words, "Needs batteries. Two. Mimi batteries (Mimi put in the batteries)" We did ask him where he felt his bed needs batteries? And he pointed to a place were there were two screws and said, "right there."

It has been an interesting week but Michael and I both agree that at the end of the day, when all is said and done, we lay in bed and look in the monitor and there might be nothing cuter in the entire world then our little man fast asleep with his head on his pillow in his big boy bed. Well except for his equally adorable baby brother laying asleep on his tummy with this thumb in his mouth in the room next door.