Bedtime Battles

UGH. I need a nap.

We were lucky enough to keep Madison in her crib for a LONG time. She never climbed out, so we just kept her in there. About three weeks ago, however, she learned how to climb over the side.

The little turkey was really smart about it too. She threw her pillow down to the floor for a soft landing and put her quilt over the side for something to slide down. I have no idea how she figured that out, but it was clearly a well-planned escape!

After a few nights of her escaping, we converted her crib to a toddler bed. Now I am wondering why they don't put straps or chains on these things to keep these kids in bed. I need some sleep!

The past few weeks have been an endless bedtime battle. I put Madison in bed and before I get the door closed, she is climbing out. Super Nanny is failing me, big time. (GASP!) I have done her stay in bed trick continuously for the past three weeks. I have tried to follow it to the letter, but it gets frustrating when you have to carry a screaming and kicking two year old back to bed for the 387th time. It has only resulted in screaming, yelling, and tears. (More so from me than from Madison!)

On Sunday, to keep myself from going off the deep end after two hours of the battle, I shut off all the lights and locked myself in my room. I figured she would either burn the house down while fending for herself or eventually fall asleep. At that point, it was pretty tough to care much anymore. Thankfully - she did eventually fall asleep.

So - what are we trying now? I have asked daycare to cut down her daytime naps, to make her extra tired and try to get back on her schedule. That seemed to help a bit yesterday. I have put a baby gate up on her door, so she can't get out of her room. She is learning to climb that so I am going to put a second gate up so it is taller. I have even removed most of the fun toys from her room so she doesn't have something to play with when she gets out of bed.

I also started a new bedtime routine. We used to do bath, teeth, jammies, book, bed. The books seem to be getting her all worked up tho, so instead we are playing a lullaby CD. I tuck Madison into bed and turn on the CD. I stay in there and sing all of the songs with her and I even try to rub her back to help her relax. We have done this for two nights now. On Sunday, I felt certain it would work but Sunday was the worst night ever. I am determined to keep trying this tho. I did it again last night and it was definetely a much better night. She only got out of bed a handful of times and even though I could hear her playing in there with her blankets and lovies, she was still in her bed. So, we are replacing our book learning with an appreciation for music. It's not all terrible - we can read at other times of the day and she is getting books read to her at daycare.

Any other bed time tips are appreciated! If my music experiment fails I'll need a backup plan. Oh yea, and don't feel bad if I fall asleep in mid conversation - I need some sleep!