The adventures of Climby McClimberson and Sassafras

Gizmo has been getting up earlier and earlier lately. But when she started jabbering before 6 a.m., I decided she could hang in her crib a few more minutes since I hadn't planned to get up until 6:40 a.m.

For about 30 minutes she talked to herself off and on. I thought she might eventually go back to sleep. Then, I heard a soft thud and crying. Wondering what the heck she could have done, I went to check only to find her standing outside of her crib.

OUTSIDE OF HER CRIB. SHE'S NOT EVEN 17 MONTHS OLD.

I gasped, "Oh no!" and the husband rolled over in a panic to be greeted by a running Gizmo who hit him repeatedly, her version of the morning wake-up call.

"She climbed out of her crib. She. Climbed. Out. Of. Her. Crib," I told the husband, who just rolled back over, failing to grasp the gravity of the situation.

I am not ready for a free-range baby. The crib is not on the lowest setting although it can be lowered only another two inches - maybe. I'm not sure those two inches will be enough to stop her. Our experience with Peanut was that once she found the way out, she was not going to let anything stop her. She was 20 months and within a week, she was in a twin bed.

(Here is the first experience with her transition. Here is her first night in the bed, which didn't go well. Oh, and the second and third night, which didn't go much better. Here are my lessons learned.)

(Also, I think I am having flashbacks because I was in my first trimester with Gizmo when we started the transition ordeal with Peanut. So on top of my already exhausted pukiness, I was getting up as many as six times a night or sleeping with an acrobatic toddler.)

When I lamented my plight on Twitter this morning, Elsha suggested a crib tent. It's a possibility but I'm pretty sure my little Houdini would find a way to dismantle it in short order. I'm hoping lowering the mattress will buy us a few more months but I will also do some research on crib tents.

(Edited to add: Crib tents have been recalled. As of yesterday. Of course they have. If you have a crib tent, this says you should stop using it. Immediately.)

After I got over my shock this morning, I had to deal with a very grumpy and angry Peanut. A wild badger mixed with a rabid wolverine is probably calmer than she was this morning. Everything made her angry and everything made her cry. The babysitter told us Peanut wasn't her usually self yesterday - that she was cranky and had lost her listening ears somewhere.

While on the way to preschool, I calmly told Peanut that I needed her to be a better listener. That the adults in her life were trying to keep her safe and that she needed to listen and stop throwing fits. She whimpered in the back seat. I told her that I wasn't upset and she wasn't in trouble. That there was no reason to cry.

"I know, momma. I was just kidding," she said as she smiled and started laughing.

She fake cried on me. Faked it.

My mother laughed a lot when I told her all of this. I think she feels that all this behavior is justified given my antics as a child.

So, I'm just going to start wishing that my daughters have daughters that are just like them - sweet, lovely, smart with a side of drive their momma crazy.