give me the summary: explained

last weekend my hubby was in a wedding in san jose (about 30 min. away from where we live). knowing that we would be getting home late, we decided to take advantage of the opportunity and book an overnight sitter. we have two great adult sitters in our new town and were fortunate to have one of them available and agreeable to the proposition of watching our monkeys for a little under 24 hrs. with no family around this is a treat above all treats. i don't think my hubby and i have been alone together since november of '08 and we were in desperate need of a little respite from our daily duties. but i digress...

so my hubby headed off to the wedding festivities in the morning and i followed behind a few hours later leaving my kiddos in very capable hands. i was given strict instructions by my sitter to have fun, not to worry and that she'd text me if she needed me.

after the ceremony, i checked my phone. no messages.

a few hours into the reception, i looked down at my phone to discover that my kidderoos should be safely tucked in bed. i decided to give our sitter a quick text to see if all had gone well and to ensure that they were all snug as a bug.

the reply went something like this...

"um... didn't know d could jump out of her crib!"

my response went something like this...

"me either! yikes!"

apparently our very capable sitter was able to coax miss d to stay in her bed after several attempts of crib jumping and bedroom fleeing.

i crossed my fingers and prayed that this was a one time event and that our mischievous little d, who has an affinity for her bed, would not do this again.

that was not to be. the next day after we returned home, miss d hopped out of her crib over and over and over and over... again. we knew drastic measures needed to be implemented. my hubby was put to the task of removing the crib and i was put to the task of going to babies-r-us to find devices that would keep the crib jumper turned to mattress sleeper in her room.

to my dismay, i had to purchase a door knob device and an outside door locking device.

at bedtime, within moments, our spirited d had learned to dismantle the doorknob device. plan b had to be implemented. we installed the outside door lock which was met with great bouts of crying by our little d. on night one she ended up crying herself to sleep. i later found her in a puddle, sound asleep on her lovie bunny in the middle of her floor.

on day two, we implemented a reward chart and some other short-term incentives. they seem to have done the trick. miss d is now working towards earning a "big-girl bed". she is just a few night-time sleeps and a few naps away from this accomplishment.

it is important for me to say that i had NO IDEA what moms were talking about when they talked about this struggle. our compliant e would never have thought of venturing out of her room, let alone the safe confines of her crib. when we did make the move to a twin bed, she never did this.

it was a good reminder that each child is completely and utterly different. each requires a new and innovative parenting strategy and their own path of discipline.

and just an aside, d's monogrammed pillowcase from her nana is way cuter in person that the photograph that i captured earlier this week. in fact, it is her prized possession as of late.