One week and all is well

Parenting has a persistent way of reminding us that all plans and good intentions are subject to change without notice.  One week ago today I heard Calvin wake up from his nap and start his usual afternoon monologue, about a half hour of every word, phrase, and memory he can come up with.  It's always such a joy to listen to him that sometimes I spend that extra half hour of "free time" sitting outside his door eavesdropping.   Usually we let him wake up on his own terms and wait for him to call us before we go get him, but last Monday, when 45 minutes later he still hadn't called for me and his usual chatter had become disconcertingly quiet, I took matters into my own hands and barged into his room.  Imagine my surprise at finding him more than half way out of the crib already, hanging by his forearms and lowering himself over the side, toes reaching for the floor.  The first thought through my head, of course, was "well, darn, there goes the confined sleeping stage we'd planned to hold on to until he was at least three."  As soon as Jon got home Calvin helped him take the side rail off his crib, making it effectively a toddler size day bed, they installed a guard rail over half the bed side (so he won't fall out), and we had a small celebration at dinner to mark this wonderful next big boy step.   Calvin took the change in typical Calvin fashion; he was excited about sleeping in the "new" bed, and he seemed to listen intently when we told him that once he climbed in bed for the night or nap he was to stay in bed until mommy or daddy came to get him.  After the 3 Bs –bath, (tooth) brushing, and books–we tucked him in and again reminded him of this important rule before dusting off and plugging in the reliable old baby monitor and preparing ourselves for what could have been a difficult night of lots of discipline and little sleep.  As it turned out, the only thing the baby monitor was really good for was listening to his night time banter, a redux of the post nap monologue (and this, by the way, is a really good use for the thing and I'm not sure why we didn't think of it earlier).  It's been a full week now and Calvin has consistently remained in bed and slept his full nap and night schedules (hear the sound of me knocking on wood as I type this).  And we've discovered a great secondary benefit in not having to lift our nearly 30lb toddler over the high crib side.  Sometimes a change of plans is a good thing.