Lets train

Even though Luke is only 2 years old, I have already seen differences between him and the girls.
Luke is ALL boy.
Even though we have dolls, barbies, etc all around our house he ignores them and goes straight for the balls, trucks, cars & trains.
He is also a Climber.
A few weeks ago, Luke and I were playing, I had to go to the bathroom and when I went back to his room, he had dragged his PBK Everyday chair to his dresser, turned it upside down and used it as a ladder so that he could open the top drawer of his dresser.

So, let this be a Public Service Announcement to remind you that if you have kids in your house, make sure you bolt your heavy furniture to the wall. 
All of our dressers  & bookshelves at our house are anchored to the wall, it is pretty simple to do and only costs a couple dollars. Kevin secured all our furniture about 4 years ago because
1) When Claire was 2.5 she tried to climb on Kate's dresser and it fell over. Luckily her dresser is short and it didn't land on her, but it could have been BAD.
and 2) We live in Earthquake country, we need things secured to the wall.

 So, Luke is a climber.  He climbs on the counters, he climbs on tables, he climbs everywhere.
The other day when I was making dinner, I heard Luke go into the garage and when I went to get him, he had climbed onto Claire's bike & was trying to "ride" it.
Also, he doesn't like wearing pants and is in a stage where he takes off his clothes, pajamas, his diaper...he just wants to be nakey.


I knew it was inevitable that he would start climbing out of his crib because the last few times he has been in a pack n play he has climbed out of it.
When we were in Tahoe a few weeks ago, he climbed out of it everytime we put him down for his nap or for bedtime. He would run upstairs with his jammies off and he was so proud he climbed out.
We were hoping it was just a pack n play thing, but when we got home from Tahoe, that night he kept climbing out of his crib. It was a loooooong night but finally he fell asleep and stayed in his crib.

The next day for naptime was a disaster. He wouldn't stay in his crib. The 10th time I went to put him back in his crib, I opened his door to find this:
He had taken things OFF his walls!!!!!
He had gone into Claire's room and gotten her piggy bank and he was using his PBK everyday chair as a ladder and was trying to get his piggy bank off his tall dresser.
Seriously, he is crazy.

I gave up on having him nap in his crib, so I put him in his car seat and we drove around until he fell asleep....I seriously felt like I had a newborn again because for the past few days he wouldn't sleep at night and wouldn't nap.  It was exhausting.
I didn't know what to do....we weren't ready for him to be in a big boy bed (hello....see the above photo....do you think he can be left alone at night with access to everything in his room?
I don't think so!
I know a lot of people put their 2 year olds in toddler beds or twin beds, but we just aren't ready to do that with Luke....so we stooped to a low level......we borrowed a crib tent from some of our friends.

Yes, that's right. 

A crib tent (Feel free to judge) 

We felt like this was the safest option for Luke at this time until he stops his climbing phase (do boys ever grow out of their climbing phase?)

Plus, Luke can now unlock the front door, so it's just not safe for him to be able to roam free.

So, here it is in all it's glory. 

The crib tent.

I have no shame.

Something I never thought I would have to use.

Kate was in her crib until she was 2 years 10 months old...she never tried to climb out.

Claire was in her crib until 2 years 8 months old, she only climbed out once (and that week we put her in her big girl bed)

So, for now Luke is still in his crib, with the crib tent keeping him safe inside. 

And, I have to put his pajamas zipped on backwards because that way he can't take them off.

I am sick of cleaning up pee/poo in his crib from when he takes off his jammies and diapers. Ugh.

 Poor Luke.

I hope the backwards pajamas and crib tent won't cause him to have too much therapy when he is older. Ha!

Anyone else out there have (or had) toddlers that were climbers, pajama strippers or escape artists?

Crib Tenters Unite!

It's been a little over 2 months since we planted our 2017 Garden so I thought I would do another garden update.

I love this quote....so true! Ha! 

 My favorite part of my garden is my tomatoes....I plant 10 tomato plants each year :)

Here is what our 2017 garden looked like when I first planted it:

 And here is it TWO Months after planting it:

Tons of green tomatoes, but they haven't turned red...yet.

By this time last year, I already several Early Girls turn red, this year we have only a couple orange colored ones:

In the next week these orange ones should be ready to eat!

This plant has a variety of 5 different types of cherry tomatoes.

I have yellow pear tomatoes:

Sun Sugar:

Super Sweet 100....we've had some red ones :)
 Sun Gold:

This year for the first time, I planted green cherry heirloom tomatoes:

I thought they were doing great, then I looked at the bottom of them...

 

You can see my Lemon Zucchini Bread recipe that I posted the other day HERE

It's SO good!

Around the garden boxes, I planted some plants that are vines:

Watermelon:

Cantaloupe:

Pumpkins:

The view from how are garden looked from this direction 2 months ago at the beginning of May:

 

  One month later in June:  

  And, 2 months after we planted it in July:

 It's so fun to see the garden grow...my kids love heading out to the garden each morning to see what we can harvest each day!

 They love picking the cherry tomatoes off the vine & eating them right there in the garden!

What is your favorite thing to plant/eat in your garden?

Happy Gardening!

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