The Toddler Bed

Sam showed us his skills last night...crawling out of his crib...so he's now in his toddler bed. John and I had been shopping all afternoon so my dad was here with Sam putting him to bed. Dad said he put Sam in bed, then took Tucker out the front door to let him potty. From behind him, he heard the little giggles and squeals of one proud little boy who had just crawled out of his crib. He tried to put him back in it, but he crawled right out each time. And then he called us,
"When are y'all going to be home?" (he never calls to ask this)
"Oh, I don't know...we're almost finished here and this is the last place we needed to go, but I'm hungry...why?"
(laughing, and with the giggles of a little boy in the background) "Oh, no rush, Sam just keeps crawling out of his crib."
I started laughing too and then hung up the phone so John and I could figure out how to handle this one. We quickly decided we would get home and change the bed into the toddler bed...John was concerned about Sam falling and hurting himself if he were to keep crawling out of the crib. And that's what we did. It took about 30 minutes (and it was already an hour after bedtime). We put door handle locks/covers on the inside of the doors in Sam's room so he couldn't get into the closet, in the bathroom, or out of his room and I found a really cool night light that is a combination light/outlet cover. It actually screws on in place of the typical cover plate and has an integrated night light, so Sam can't pull the night light out of the wall. Then we said our good nights and left the room.
Oh, was he mad when he figured out he couldn't just open the door to get out of his room. I felt kind of bad for 'locking' him in his room, but I read a book (way back when we were having baby sleep issues), Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems by Richard Ferber, that outlines this method...using gates or locks of some sort to keep them in the room. Unfortunately, John and I realized a long time ago that we didn't have the child who would "just stay in his bed because he didn't know he could get out" when we moved him from the confines of a crib. (I can't tell you how many people tell me that's what their child did!) So, we decided Ferber's method would probably be the one we used. Ferber explains it by saying to think of their room as their "crib" now instead of the actual bed as the crib. And we were very conscious of explaining to Sam that he has to stay in his room...hopefully he understood what was happening and didn't feel so trapped. We know everything in his room is safe. He has books and stuffed animals in his room, but no other toys, and it's his little place. Ironically, the last couple of weeks, Sam's wanted to get in his crib with books to read and will often sit doing that for 20 minutes or so. And just a few days ago I said that I thought we might think about converting his bed after our holiday travels.
So, last night we expected it to be rough...and it was, sort of. He threw a fit for 30 minutes after we left his room...he screamed, banged on the door, kicked the door, yelled for us, etc. But, after 30 minutes, he got his blanket, pillow, and one bear, and he crawled in his bed and went to sleep. He woke twice during the night asking for "waler" (water), but didn't get out of his bed, and this morning slept an hour and 45 minutes past when he usually wakes up. Today at nap time, he cried when I left the room and knocked on the door (but not as long and with much less intensity than last night), calling for me, for about 5 minutes. Then he got a couple of books and crawled in bed to read. He then knocked on the door again and tried to get me to come get him calling, "Mommy, where are you?" And finally crawled in bed and went to sleep. And then tonight, he cried and knocked on the door for less than 5 minutes and then kept himself busy in his room until he was tired enough to crawl in bed and go to sleep. I'm going to sneak in his room a little later to see exactly what he got out...at one point we did hear his frog stuffed animal that ribbits when it's squeezed. I just told John that it was very interesting to me that he actually put himself to bed around the same time he usually falls asleep (in his crib). Even before converting his bed, he'd sing, talk, do soccer stetches, etc. in bed for quite a while before going to sleep. And tonight, even with the freedom of doing whatever he wanted in his room, he crawled in bed when he was ready to sleep.
This is actually kind of fun, letting him spread his wings a little...but, it also reminds me of how he's growing into a little boy, and doing it, oh, so quickly.

...And the biggest question mark...what to do now on our two upcoming trips?

*Edited to add*...lying in bed and jumping out of bed