If you missed it the first time around, I got it in my head Friday that we were taking the plunge - yet again - to try and get DS used to toddler rails. The last time we tried this was a complete and utter disaster. It became a game for us to tell him to go to bed. At 18 months, we deemed he wasn't ready and put the crib front back on.A month later, he's been trying to climb into baby sister's crib. He's already tried climbing out of his crib several several times. I was hoping this freedom would be enough to convince him not to climb. (That's been a bit of a bust).

Anyways the real problem is getting him to sleep. Like genuinely asleep. A month ago, he wore himself out playing with the crib rails, enjoying the novelty of it all, and then slept for nearly three hours straight. At bedtime we crumbled because he was over tired. Fast forward and we're a little out of our depths. At nap, I put him down, I turn on his dog, I walk away. I close his door behind me - and then I hear it.

Rattle rattle rattle as the little hand tries the door knob. Then often times I'll hear him playing with his trucks and I just leave him alone. Eventually he wears himself out, crawls into bed, and naps. Not always quickly but so long as he isn't whining and doesn't try the door repeatedly (3+ is my limit before letting him back out), it usually goes fine. My only complaint is since we haven't fully transitioned to the one nap at 19 months, he seems to have regressed and started taking two naps again...

Bedtime, though, is another story. We go through the same routine we've gone through for months. Nothing has changed and yet the toddler rails suddenly make everything different. We put him down, turn on his dog, (no nightlight anymore because he would just rip it off the wall, still trying to figure out how to replace that), and we close the door mostly behind us. We put up a gate across the front of his door, go sit in the living room and wait.

Sometimes he'll just go stand at the gate and stare at us. Whine a little, then go back inside. Sometimes he closes the door some. Sometimes he opens it a little wider. Most of the time he goes to the window and we hear him moving the blinds around (which in turn messes with the curtains). Any suggestions on dealing with/ discouraging that?

Then of course there's the 'how long do I need to keep putting the gate up across the front of his door'? Is it a week? More? When will it finally 'click'?

Any thoughts or advice (or positive thinking) welcome!

ETA: He sleeps through the night. Normally once we're sure he's actually down, we take the gate off the front of his door and shut his door completely if it isn't already shut. That way if there's an emergency we can get to him quickly.