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@NorCalWayfarer: My sister went through this and would put my nephew down in his room for the night, but if he woke up he could come into their room onto a floor bed beside their bed.

I do not have any advice but I do want to say my LO went through an awful sleep phase right at 2. Just screaming at bedtime, not sleeping... We tried a big girl bed at the time, thinking it couldn't get worse, but we were wrong. She hasn't climbed out then so we switched back to the crib. Eventually she went back to her normal, below average but not completely awful sleep, until she really did learn to climb out around two and a half and we switched to big girl bed for good, and it went much smoother.

It seems like lots of kids just go through a really awful period of sleep right at 2. Good luck. It's awful when you are also pregnant!

Sleep was horrible right at 2 for a bit. Ds was a good sleeper but all of a sudden it went bad.

What eventually worked: (he couldn't climb out of his crib and still hasn't so all of this was done with him being trapped in a crib)

We would tell him we were right outside the door. Then DH would stay outside the door and talk to him a bit and he would fall asleep. In the middle of the night if he woke we went to his door quick and said its ok we are right here! And he calmed back down.

This was huge for us because although he was a good sleeper, if he woke in the night we would be in his room forever and the second we put him down or left he would flip out. Now he doesn't cry at nap or bed or when we leave if he happens to get up at night. I swear the standing outside the door thing worked wonders.

Oh and a sticker chart for no crying before bed. I didn't think he would get it but he did and it worked really well for him.

@NorCalWayfarer: Sounds like my youngest when we transitioned her. I ended up having to do a version of the Sleep Lady Shuffle to get her to stay in her room.

As pathetic as it sounds, here's what we did:
For a few nights, I slept in her bed to get her used to falling asleep in the new bed. Then I slept in the recliner in her room (big and comfy) for a few nights.

Then we put up a baby gate in her doorway, left the door open, and I slept in the hallway on the other side of the gate (I literally pulled the cushions off the couch and put them down on the tile outside her room... haha!). At first, I was in sight, then I would move 1-2 ft further from her sight each night. If she got up or cried for me, I would just tell her that "I'm right here - you need to go back to bed". She would cry sometimes, but I stayed consistent and never picked her up or went in there. She figured it out and would just go back to bed.
Finally, I was able to move to the couch in the living room, where she could still see me if she stood at her door. I left a dim light on so she could see I was there, but I still would just tell her to go back to bed.

Like I said, it was not the best thing, but it worked for us and she learned to stay in her bed. Two weeks of struggle that was well worth it. We still keep the baby gate up because we don't want her wandering around if she gets up in the middle of the night.