Someone pass the Mylanta.

Miss Princess S. climbed out of her crib this week.

Do I need to say more?

The other night, we were getting ready to give them baths. I'd gone into the bathroom to draw the bath, DH was getting Dr. D. undressed, and Princess was sitting in her crib, reading. All of a sudden, I heard a sickening "THUD" and DH screamed "HOLY SHIT!" I ran into the room and saw Princess standing in the middle of the room, with a look on her face that said, "huh. so THAT'S how you do it". I said to DH, "did she just climb out?" and DH (still dumbfounded), said "I have NO idea how she did it, I only turned my back on her for a second..."

Rule #1 of parenting: NEVER turn your back on them for a second.

The next morning, when she wasn't first out of bed for changing, she hooked her leg over the side of the crib, with a look on her face that said, "I'm gonna jump!" I considered using a crib tent to contain her, but DH talked me out of it. My compromise was to drop the side on her crib (that way, if she takes the leap again, she won't fall as far). Their bedroom door is closed at night, and a pressure gate is locked in their doorway. And to be extra safe, a second pressure gate is at the top of the stairs. Should she venture out of bed during the night, I'm thinking I'll hear her long before she gets to the stairs.

This is one of those moments that I knew was coming: I've heard about other kids doing it, and I knew it was a matter of time. But I found myself so unprepared mentally.

Once Dr. D starts making the great escape, we'll start to move to beds. Which, of course means that naps may soon fall by the wayside. Say it isn't so! Short though they may be, naps are a wonderful respite, an event that signals the mid-point of my day, a chance to take a shower, return phone calls, eat my lunch in peace, and watch something other than Dora the Explorer. I'm not ready for naps to go away.

And speaking of my kids growing up, the rest of my week has been consumed with the necessary preparatiions for their preschool evaluations. This is going to be absolute hell. Each girl is going to go through a total of six hours of evaluations, spread out over three days. They get a one hour evaluation for each therapy discipline they're receiving (we get 5 different types), plus a psych eval, and they put the girls into a classroom to see how they fare. I need to get the evaluations done before a certain date in order for our existing therapies to be extended till September. Throw in even more appointments to tour preschools, and I'm going to be pretty damn busy over the next couple of weeks.

OK. I'm off to bang my head against a wall. Here's the Friday Fiver:

1. When is your birthday? -- July 9
2. How old will you be? - One year older than I am now. Oh, all right - 38.
3. Do you prefer to throw a party or attend a party? - Attend. I don't have time to plan and throw parties anymore!
4. Presents: take'em or leave'em? - Oh, I'm takin' them.
5. Best birthday so far? - Hm...maybe 21. it was so long ago, its hard to remember.