Summertime and Shenanigans

We've been keeping busy since returning from vacation! Unpacking, trying to tame the house and yard, getting back to a normal routine, staying cool, and trying to keep up with an ever-wild man, Lewis.

 Does he need a man purse? I think he needs a man purse.

He likes to carry the camera bag around on his shoulder, so I was thinking about buying or making a small bag for him to see if he'd like to use it to carry actual things around.

 The Garden Has Gone Crazy!

The zucchini plants (2) and cherry tomato have gone wild, especially. There is a second tomato plant that is pretty normal-looking, but the cherry took off upwards and outwards--it had outgrown its cage when we got home from vacation and bent itself and the cage over sideways. I've since gone and gotten a stake to try to help get it up off the yard. None of the tomatoes are ready yet, but I did spot an eversoslightly orange one this morning. :) Soon, we'll have them coming out of our ears!

 The zucchini plants are taller than Lewis (I guess they are in a raised bed). In the past, we've gotten 1, maybe 2, zucchinis, and then they die off. This year already we've pulled off 6, I believe, and I've had to throw out 3 or 4 that haven't grown properly and/or rotted. There are 4-5 that will be ready to pick in the next day or two. Unfortunately, I'm not loving zucchini on its own, so I've had to shred some and put it in spaghetti sauce (to freeze) and made one batch of zucchini bread so far. I did make a corn and zucchini dish that was really good, so we can eat it that way if it continues to grow wildly.

And now onto the shenanigans:

 Can't reach? No problem!

Stinker is figuring things out. He does this with the wicker storage cubes in our living room, too--pushes them up to the baby gate, climbs atop the cube, then tries to climb over the gate (so far unsuccessfully because I run over to get him).

 He likes to get in the pool with his clothes on.

We can't walk by without him either grabbing a cup to take a drink (and pour water all down the front of him) or falling in/climbing in. He usually reaches in for a cup and falls in, but more and more, he'll just climb right in, intentionally. No swimsuit, no problem. :)

 Soaking wet.

 And this isn't a shenanigan, so much, but just reminded me that he tries to put his shoes on now! On this day, he would go over and stand on a shoe and say eh-eh-eh until we helped him. He's also started 'helping' us when we're dressing him (Kevin's mom noticed that when babysitting this weekend--he'll hold a leg out for shorts or pushes his arm through the arm hole in his shirt).

And finally, the crib fiasco! We waited to see if his climbing out of the crib was a one-time thing or would continue. Saturday morning, we woke up to a loud thump and crying out (Kevin and I both JUMPED out of bed so fast). He was fine, but I decided that was that, and we needed to do something.

Option A: Crib Tent

Really like the idea, but after reading reviews (danger, collapse, strangulation, etc.), I got freaked out enough that I don't feel comfortable going that route.

Option B: Toddler Bed

I thought I'd read that 2 1/2 to 3 years was when this would happen, but this is what we are going to do.

I read up on our particular crib (which transitions from crib to toddler bed to twin bed to double bed), and it is only meant to be a crib until the child is 35 inches tall--then it needs to convert to a toddler bed. Lewis is 33 inches tall (or 33 3/4 in, based on the pediatrician's office's measurements from 6 weeks ago), so it looks like he has reached the max (or has long enough and strong enough toes to make up the difference).

To convert it, we will just be removing the front railing, so the other 3 sides will stay intact. I ordered a crib rail (a smaller, shorter mesh barrier to keep him from rolling out), so once it arrives, Operation Crib to Toddler Bed can begin. The mesh rail doesn't stretch the entire length of the mattress, so he'll still have room on either end to get in/out of bed. I know we need to get him into that set-up for his safety, but I'm already dreading those first few nights. :/

I also need to go through and totally childproof his room so that he can't get into any trouble when he's out of bed.

In-the-Meantime: Sleep Sacks!

In doing my research, I came across a mom who said she used Halo Sleep Sacks to discourage climbing--they don't allow their legs to stretch as far, and I think the extra fabric piled up around his feet throws him off enough to not try to move much in them. I just happened to have two that I picked up at Goodwill--they are size 2-3T (so they're really too big still), but so far, so good--he looks like a mini-monk, too, which is cute.

Ommm.

Like a monk. 

Rockin' the Sleep Sack :)

Work it, Lew.

We haven't had any more incidents since trying the sleep sacks Saturday nap onward, so we'll keep using them until the crib rail arrives later this week or early next week. THEN we're onto Boise, so I might end up waiting until after we get home to rock his world with a toddler bed situation.

Did you hear that, Emily? Boise! Next week!!