We have a monkey on our hands...

Last week Zoee learned to climb out of her crib...she decided to wander around the house at midnight. Everytime I put her back, she got out again. I peeked through a crack in the door to see this tiny little petite girl use her arms to lift the whole weight of her body up to the side of the crib, take a seat on the edge, then grab on with her hand, turn around backward and lower herself down. I was dumbfounded!  Since Zoee wouldn't stay in her bed, I tried putting her in my bed. I tried getting her to lay down on the couch with me. But it was all to no avail. She kicked and wiggled until she got free every time. There was no way she was going to lay down, after her new found freedom had opened the door to all kinds of exciting opportunities. I thought about putting her in her room with the door shut, but then my mommy worrier turned on about the cords she could get tangled in, the diaper packages she might put on her head, and the bookshelf she might try to climb and dump over on herself. So I continued to chase the little imp around the house...until 3 am, when she finally tired out and fell asleep. The next day I wandered around the house like a zombie with a pounding headache, trying to keep at least one eye open to watch the kids. Zoee was unaffected by her excursions of the previous night, and thus decided to skip her nap. That night, I was relieved when she went to sleep in her crib at bedtime. But alas, my joy was shortlived. At midnight, there was a wanderer in my bedroom! And so the nonsense started again. By 2:30am, I had had it. I woke Daniel up, we took down the crib, moved EVERYTHING out of Zoee's room, including the closet contents that she could reach, and taped up all the outlets. We then put Zoee in her prison with a mattress on the floor, a pillow, a blanket, and her stuffed monkey, and shut the door! I spent the next day tired and irritable. I did find the energy to set Zoee up a big girl bed, though! Since Zoee wasn't used to her new sleeping quarters, the first night I laid down and snuggled in her new bed with her for a few minutes. She turned to me and started brushing her little hands on my cheeks. Then she wrapped one arm around my neck, burrowed her other arm underneath and around the other side of my neck and snuggled in close until our noses were touching. Her eyelashes fluttered on my face for a moment, and then she went to sleep. At that moment all the irritation just melted away, and I couldn't squeeze that little girl tight enough for all the love I felt for her...I was overwhelmed with the appreciation and joy I felt as I thought about my little girl and her tight squeezes, wet kisses, silly crooked smiles, "run as fast as you can for loves when mommy walks in the door" little ways.

While we try to teach our children about life, our children teach us what life is all about.

~Angela Schwindt