The Day That I've Been Dreading

This afternoon Cooper was down for his nap as he is most every afternoon. I had only had about 3 hours of sleep last night, so I had laid down as well. I could hear him on the monitor the whole time... in his crib... chatting away. I could tell that this was going to be a long "getting-to-sleep" day, and I was in desperate need of some shut eye as I am on single-parent duty and will continue to be for another 24+ hours. So, I turned the monitor off knowing that I would be able to hear him when he woke up and yelled for me. (If I actually slept that long.) A little while later, just as I was dozing off, I heard it... "Mama!" "Mama!" "Mama!" I roused from the light sleep that I was in and realized that that voice sounded a bit clearer and a bit closer than when his door is closed and his monitor is off. I jumped up and ran to the bottom of the stairs... and there he stood. Just outside of his door. There had been no thud and no cry, so I am fairly certain that he had easily scaled the side of the crib. He had opened the door, but I could tell that he was not sure what to do next.

Arrgh!

No!

I am not ready for this!

I gave him my best "mean-mama" look, told him that climbing out of his bed was a huge "no no", and promptly took him back into his room. After a snuggle in the rocking chair, I put him back in his bed... and so far so good. No thud. No crying. No little boy standing at the top of the stairs... or worse, at the bottom of the stairs.

With Cooper, I have been big on boundaries. Highchairs, Gates, Cribs, Pack & Plays. It is necessary for me with baby #3 + homeschooling + all of the dangers that baby #1 and #2 can create (Legos) + 4 sets of stairs that have railing that he can fir through. I am not typically a very big boundaries person, and I was not as structured in those areas with Allie & Jack, but I found this to be very helpful to the whole family this time around. It has given all of us a sense of security. We always know where the baby is and that he is okay. So, to see that sense of security slowly... make that quickly... fade away is scary. Not to mention that it is another one of those bridges to boyhood that I always talk about dragging my heels across.

So, here's hoping that Cooper will totally forget the freedom that he just tasted and go back to the baby that happily lays in his crib for 2 -3 hours every day while his mommy has the only (somewhat) mental break that she gets every day.