The incredible appearing baby

Yesterday I put the boys down for naps after J's 4 year well child visit. It was later than normal, and they were tired, even J, who is slowly but surely weaning himself off of naps, much to my deep chagrin. He groused a bit as he does sometimes and I thought it was 50/50 whether or not he would actually stay in bed. Baby E I bundled into his pack-n-play and put to bed without any complaint, as is usual for him

15 or 20 minutes later, I heard their bedroom door open and thought, "Sure enough, J's not going to nap today. SIGH." So, I walked out into the hall...and was met by Baby E, who gave me a loud, "Hi, Mama!" Wait, what? I'm sure I was the stereotypical picture of incredulity when I stared at him, dumbfounded. Where did he come from? Did I just dream that I put him in his bed? What was going on?

Befuddled, I put him back into his bed and closed the door. The only explanation that came to mind was that he had been reaching for a binky he saw on the floor and flipped himself over the edge somehow but managed not to injure himself in the process. Scary, dangerous, but not fatal, apparently. I wrote it off as a fluke and went back to my room. A few minutes later, I heard a suspicious noise but no door opening, so I went to investigate. This time I found Baby E already up on the top bunk across the room.

It was official: He had learned to climb out of his bed. And oh, the weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth (by me). I put out a desperate call to our ward list for an unused used crib and within an hour I had gotten one, a 22 year old model from a family who was in the process of filling their trailer for a move out of state (recalls? what? la la la, nothing to see here, move right along!). We only need it for a few more months; I was planning on putting him into his bottom bunk at 2 1/2 years old, but he's far too young for that right now, so a borrowed crib it is.

Additional investigation revealed that Baby E had learned how to prop his foot up on the side of the pack-n-play, lean far forward and grab the door frame, and then use these two points of contact to pull himself up and over the side. Pretty coordinated, actually, if I were of a mind to admire such shenanigans. This is yet another of the side effects of having a two year old who is as tall as many four year olds and as adventurous as many folks 10 times his age.