[jalapeno]

Yeah, I feel for you guys too. We had to move our daughter to a toddler bed at about 21 months old because we needed the crib. She LOVED her bed but it was such a novelty to be able to get up that she wouldn't stay in it long enough to sleep. It took two long and difficult weeks to sort it out and I was nearly ready to buy another crib and go back to that. She would stay in her bed if I lay down with her but wouldn't fall asleep. Same if I sat on the floor or in a chair in her room. We tried having her sleep in our bed actually but she kicks and doesn't actually sleep well that way. What we finally ended up doing was to play an "ocean sounds" cd and leave the room. But we would leave the door cracked and peek in at her. EVERY TIME she got out of bed, we would immediately go in and put her back - not saying anything or looking at her. She definitely treated it as a game for a while. She'd put one foot on the floor, then two, then carefully lift her butt off the bed. She'd stand up in her bed and jump and pound on the walls and yell. She'd throw things. (Sounds terrible but really she was fine - we've had her since birth and I definitely know how her tantrums go). So DH and I had to define for ourselves precisely at what point she was considered "out of bed" and she TESTED TESTED TESTED that boundary. And it was critical to not get upset and not give her eye contact so as to "reward" her as little as possible with our presence. There was one night when she literally didn't fall asleep until 4am. But then it worked!!! And things got better pretty quickly after that! That was 6 months ago and she's absolutely wonderful at going to bed now. I tuck her in, sing her a song, start her nature sounds cd, and leave the room. I close the door and don't look back. She doesn't cry. She doesn't get out of bed. Sometimes she talks or sings for a while and then . . . silence.

I wish you the best in sorting it out. I am definitely going to keep my boys' in cribs as long as they'll stay there!