Traveling Adventures of {Ornery} Ameliya Darby

Remember when I posted just a couple of weeks ago about Ameliya growing out of her co-sleeper?  I wrote in that post how we didn't really have space for the crib so we'd plunked her crib mattress on the floor beside our bed so it could be tucked under our bed if we needed to.  I was so pat-myself-on-the-back pleased with my little scheme and each time I laid her down and she drifted off I couldn't help but think "I'm a genius."  (shameful pride, I know!) This way if we showed the house to a potential buyer we'd just tuck the mattress under and make the bedroom look not quite so crowded. 

I was determined that when she started to crawl I'd just train her to stay on the mattress.  Right?  Psh - of course!  Good discipline is the backbone of our home.

BA HA HA HA HA!

I love to be right.  Sometimes when I'm not I like to duck my head and pretend I don't hear you.  I'm trying to grow and mature past that head ducking.  

Last Friday, Ameliya started rolling to travel.  Like, set her sights on something and roll and roll until she got to it. 
She checked out the grate in the floor, and offered it some spit up (sigh - it's such a pain to clean, too!)

I noticed this adventuring spirit while she was playing but was certain that when it came to sleepy time I had nothing to worry about.  And it seemed, I was right.  I laid her down for her nap and she drifted off to sleep.  I checked on her a couple of times and there she lay, just like my obedient little angel should.  A couple of hours later I heard a noise.  Assuming she was awake, I went in to get her.  There is nothing like the heart pounding feeling of an empty mattress where you expect a child to be laying.  Where is she?  Under the bed?  What kind of mother am I!?

Nope, not under the bed.  Gleefully empty the trash can across the room...

(with her blankie in tow!)

Ameliya Darby!  Trash cans are a no-no! 

Okay, this will be a one hit wonder.  She somehow got off her mattress and got across the room.  She's 4 1/2 months old - there is NO WAY she'll be able to do this again.  Right?

Fast forward to afternoon nap time...

I lay her down.  I stand in a crack in the doorway.  She knows now what to do in order to get off.  She rolls off onto the pillow I've laid on the floor for an "in case", pushes it over and starts spinning on her belly to turn the right direction.  

 

 Once she went into the closet.  I put her back on her bed and walked out the door.  The next time she went into the bathroom, which meant she had to roll across the foot of our entire bed, spin back on her belly and push with her toes to get through the doorway.  

She did it. 

I watched her.

I am stupified at the will and smarts of this little girl.  

So here I was at a crossroads of disciplining a FOUR MONTH OLD for a curiosity that is instilled into her soul.  So how did I do it?  How did I tame the ornery beast?

That's right.  I put up the pack-n-play.

Let me tell you something, folks.  In my short five years of parenting I've done some dumb stuff.  Prideful stuff.  Discipling moves that were more focused on me and how I might look than on my kids.  Trying the mattress on the floor, while maybe a long shot, wasn't the dumb move in my book.  Insisting that a roly-poly 4 month old, who otherwise naps wonderfully, stay on it when she's not of a mind to do so...well that was a battle I walked away from.  I still "won."  I'm still the authority.  But now I know with assuredness that she's safe and she knows that when I lay her down for ni-nights she only has so much ground she can cover before she has to call it quits.  Rolling and exploring...those are for wake times. 

Oh Mia - if you stay this adventurous....we might just be in for it!