I always knew Sienna would be my last baby. Three and done. That decision was solidified when my son died. So I find myself a little more nostalgic when we hit milestones. This one in particular was a challenge. I believe it was because I should have been in charge of it and I wasn’t.

Babies grow up. I get that. It happens in the blink of an eye. Milestones come and go. This was one I expected to come in about a year, but not right now. Not this soon.

It started a week ago. Nap time for the little one (18 months) is sometimes my favorite part of the day. OK, every day it is! I need that break. She appeared tired (stupid me to believe her) so I put her in her crib. As I closed the door I told her I would see her in a little bit. Little did I know that “little bit” would be less than 2-minutes!

There was no sound on the monitor. The first thing I heard were the pitter patter of her little feet as they ran across the tile in the kitchen. She opened the dishwasher and began rummaging. That gave her away! Are you kidding me?!

I asked her, “How did you get out here?”

She of course couldn’t tell me. I already knew. She had tried this trick once before. Never did any of my other children attempt to climb out of their crib! She decided to strike out and make a name for herself and be the first.

I picked her up and took her back to her crib. This time I gave her a bottle. I naively thought it would cause a distraction long enough that she would cash in. Not so! As I heard her running through the house for the second time I started to lose hope. This was never going to happen.

I gave up. Even though she was so tired, we skipped nap time that day.

Bedtime came. My husband took over and got the girls ready for bed. He knew the events of the day. Being she missed nap time we both figured she would be too tired to play games at bedtime. Boy were we wrong. The first time she escaped, she ran directly for my older daughters room. She was quickly busted and returned to her crib. Moments later, she showed up beside him in the living room.

He was desperate to corral her. We have a baby gate that makes a complete circle. He pulled it out and set it up with a blanket on the floor in her room. Her new crib. At least as she crawled out she wouldn’t hurt herself. This briefly slowed her down though she still escaped. He added a baby gate over the door to her room. She scaled that sucker in the blink of an eye.

Completely exasperated he hollered at me, “You need to come and help me fix this. I don’t know what to do and I’m not chasing her all night.”

We spent the rest of the evening emptying her bedroom. Anything she could climb on or tip over, we removed. Her door handle was flipped so we could lock it on the outside. Her bathroom door was opened for a nightlight and baby monitor. The door was barricaded with a baby gate now wrapped in cardboard with duct tape.

She was finally safely corralled! The next morning I was forced to say goodbye to our baby crib. We took it down for the last time. It saw us through three children. Teeth marks from the first and the last prominently displayed. I should have had another 2 years. This is what motherhood is all about. Learning to sit back and watch them go, even if it is too soon.