Nocturnal Wanderings

Mischief-maker extraordinaire.

Layth has been up to no good lately. Now that he has discovered he can climb out of his crib (I know, he's really too old for it anyway,) a light awakening in the middle of the night that once would have resulted in his rolling over and going back to sleep is now seen as an opportunity for mischief. Mama and Gaga are asleep, after all, and there are so many off-limit things to do. So far, I've found mounds of toothpaste in the bathtub, on the carpet, and on the cat, dishwashing liquid in the cat's water, liquid soap all over the bathroom counter, and a toothbrush that I strongly suspect has been used for brushing either the carpet or the cat. My purse has been emptied and plundered for jellybeans, Carmex tubes have been emptied onto kitchen and bedside tables, and when he finally gets bored, he comes in to wake us up. He turns on the light on Maya's bassinet, as well as the music, and if that doesn't work, he might turn on the bedside lamp, too.

I've been able to persuade Layth to lay down with us and to be still and quiet, at least until dawn, but I can't sleep when the bed is that crowded. I either lay there half asleep and half awake, or I resign myself to taking him back to bed. We have doorknob covers on the door leading to our room and on his door leading out of his room, but he's also learned to maneuver those. I put a gate across his door, and he figured out how to reach over and open it. I put a trickier gate across the door, and he used his stuffed animals to help him climb over it. I stacked the easier gate on top of the trickier gate so he could neither reach nor climb over, and that worked for one night. He spent the next day studying the trickier gate and by the next morning could reach through the holes in the gate, open the latch, and push the lower gate out, crawling under the upper gate.

I was about 15 minutes away from going to Home Depot to buy a lock for his door when I had an inspired idea at the breakfast table. There were some plastic grocery bags hanging on the door to the pantry, which had a doorknob cover. I tied a bag securely over the doorknob cover and asked Layth to try to open the door. He wasn't interested in trying for long, but the results looked promising. I tied a bag over the doorknob cover in his room and hoped for the best. So far, so good! He's very clever, and I imagine this reprieve won't last long, but I'll take what I can get at the moment.

By the way, in case you haven't noticed the additions to the sidebar, have a look. Those areas are sometimes updated even when I haven't posted a blog in days.