Joel's latest trick

Joel picked Christmas Eve to learn how to crawl out of a pack n'play. Which meant I couldn't just put him in it and expect him to go to sleep. Instead I'd put him in it and two minutes later he'd run into the living room to see what was going on. So, since I can go back to sleep within 10 seconds of waking up, I got to sleep with Mr. Man during our trip. The only nice part of that is that on Christmas morning, I woke up to two little hands on my chest, followed by a knee in my stomach. There was no way I was going to open my eyes, because once he knows you're awake, it's over. You're up for the day. But after he crawled close enough to my face, I got a big kiss to wake me up. Sorta makes up for having to wake up at 5:30 each morning.

Once we got home, we figured we were fine, because his crib is lots taller than a pack n'play. Nice thought. Five minutes after I put him in bed, he walked into the kitchen and said "Hi mom", like it was completely ordinary for him to be there. Out came the KoolAid spoon that he gets, um..........'reminded of the rules' with. Poor little guy- he got swatted while he was mid-escape, hanging over the edge of the crib railing. I left the spoon in sight to remind him what would happen if he disobeyed again and he stayed in bed. But I woke up at 6:15 to him playing in his room; I put up a gate in his doorway so at least he couldn't get out and run around the house without us hearing him knock the gate down. So now do I buy a crib tent or just teach him to stay in the crib, even though he is capable of getting out? There's no way I trust him in a bed; that's FAR too easy to get out of. At least in his crib, he has some sort of visual reminder that he's supposed to stay inside.