}

Saturday, January 2, 2010

The hostage

Our 17 month old daughter has fought sleep tooth and nail since she was born. Most babies barely move their heads, but she was swiveling her head in the hospital looking at everything - she always seems concerned that she might miss something. She is very tall for her age and approaches life with the fierce dedication of a professional athlete. When she was learning to walk, she did not take each day as it came - she stood against the picture window holding onto the window crank handle and literally did squats until she had the muscle and coordination to stand upright. She would do this for as long as we would let her and would squeal when we tried to re-direct her to something else.

So, quickly she learned to walk. She rarely slept through the night, but luckily at least grew cheerier and was crying less. Finally at nearly 17 months she did start sleeping through the night - or so we thought. We heard a banging at the door the night before New Year's Eve and swiftly learned that she whose nose did not yet reach the top rail of the crib had enough upper body strength to haul her body to the top rail, then fall onto her feet on the floor. I assume I mistook the quiet of sleep for her doing pullups on the bed. We figured out her escape routine, because after we put her back into her crib, we observed the whole thing on the baby monitor. The next day, we converted her bed to a daybed, so that she wouldn't hurt herself hurtling out of bed.

Now, when we put her to bed and shut the door, she stands there banging on the door crying. Put her back into bed and she's out and banging. So, we have to let her bang and yell. Despite the fact that we are parents and should be mature and ready for this, I still feel awkward about imprisoning someone in my home.

No comments :

Post a Comment

Something to add?