Our boys just turned two and exactly one week later last night our boys went from entertaining each other until they nodded off to slepp to finally realizing they could get out of their cribs. Once they made this realization all heck broke loose. Our evening went from managable to absolutely haywire. They were so wound up with their new found freedom that we couldn't calm them down, and once one would wind down, the other would wind him up again. But if we separated them, they went bug-nuts screaming out for each other.

We tried to calm them down - didn't work

We tried putting up a gate and letting them play until they fell asleep on the floor - didn't work

We put the mattresses on the floor and tried to get them to sleep there - they just played and jumped (I was afraind they would climb back into their cribs and fall through th bottom of the cribs' springs)

We laid in the room hoping they would fall asleep - no luck

Finally at a quarter to midnight I gave them warm milk and my wife and I laid on the floor and they fell asleep around mindight.

Tonight I am taking the front off their cribs (with their help of course) and putting on the convertible front (half panel that will allow them to easily climb in and out of bed) and then I will wrestle with them for a couple hours to wear them out. When we put them to bed I don't yet know if I will just put them in there and leave the room, or grab a book and quietly read in the corner to help calm them.

If there is a solution, or an overlooked magic bullet (ha!) I am missing, please throw in your $.02. I have much more patience with this than my wife and am actually a bit excited for this next phase, but that excitement disappears after 3 hours of yelling and crying (first kids, then eventually parents) and the enthusiasm sometimes fades.

I've got nothing, but I wanted to thank you for the entertaining images. What a task you have ahead of you! Thanks for sharing!

The second night wasn't much better than the first. They played intheir room (without toys) and continued to egg each other on and keep the party atmosphere going. We tried repeatedly putting them in their beds, they immediately jumped out. Finally we just let them be. They were, via gate, locked intheir room and eventually settled into their beanbags with one book each and fell asleep...until 2am.

From 2 to 4:15-ish they were up and screaming and playing. One settled into our bed with my wife, the other I coaxed into his bed and they both slept until 6:30 when we had to get them up.

Tonight, more of the same. Slowly making progress, I hope.

The twins factor adds something we clearly never had to deal with, so take what follows with a grain of salt. Getting a routine set up is going to be really important. I would start right after dinner talking about bedtime. Definitely want to do a bath, and some bath products claim to have "calming lavender." I didn't really notice a difference, but some parents swear by it.

I would avoid the "wrestle until I wear them out" technique. The key is to start quieting things down after dinner, to ramp down over the evening. Get the wrestling in before dinner. Maybe create a tradition of a quick bit of TV time after bath. Don't go into the bedroom until 30 minutes before you want them to go to sleep. Then read two books and lights out. Bring a book and a book light for yourself. Spend up to an hour or two the first night and gradually scale it back. It will take a while for this routine to lock in, so stick with it.

Every family is different. And this is a real challenge for LOTS of folks. You really aren't doing anything wrong.

Thanks for the input Daddy Clay. I'm willing to try just about anything to ease the boys in this transition. Tonight I will try your advice and work towards a calmer evening and hopefully a more relaxing bedtime. Baths have been the equivelent of soaking them in adrenaline. They bathe together and have made splashing an Olympic caliber sport. We might have to start giving them baths separately and try to mellow out bath time.

During my lunch break I ran out and picked up some soothing night time bath soap as well as the Happiest Toddler on the Block. The Happiest Baby on the Block was a great help during the first six months of the boys lives, so I thought I would give the Happiest Toddler a try as well and see if there are any tips in there for helping calm them down.

Until they come out with a the Baby Bjorn Toddler Immobilizer I'll stick to patience and persistence.

Until they are old enough to understand the incentive program for being mellow and staying in their beds looks like you will need to hang around until they are asleep. I like Daddy Clay's book light idea and would only add don't let them get too tired. Routine is key for this type of transition so starting the night night routine earlier rather than later might help. Good luck.

Thanks for your input and help guys. Last night was just me and the boys, my wife was working late and I went full tilt with your advice. I picked up some lavendar and vanilla Aveeno bath soap and a few baby proofing tools on the way home. We played before dinner, then took a bath afterward. I took most of the way-too-many toys from the tub and worked to keep their volume and splashing minimized. After the tub was pajamas and some warm milk. I played some "Cowboy Junkies" and "Eva Cassidy" at a low volume for some mellow music (they love music and get amped up or mellowed down depending on the music - usually) and read a book to them. It was tough because they just wanted to jump in their cribs. When my wife got home we tried reading to them (one parent per kid) but it was obvious our presence had no calming affect on them, so we left.

They are not afraid to be alone, because their best friend is always there, so the issue is more of how do we calm them down to get them to sleep? We figured boredom would do the trick so prior to bedtime we had removed all toys and most books. We even had to move the changing table out of their room because opening and slamming the drawers is a lot of fun for them. Roughly an hour later they were asleep. They were not in their beds however, they put their bean bags together, each grabbed their blanket snd snuggled up together leaning into each other. I wish I could have taken a photo, but I was not about to risk a good night's sleep!

Around 1 am Carson woke up and I was able to put him in his bed where he slept the rest of the night. In the morning we praised him heartily and congratulated him for sleeping in his Big Boy Bed. Hopefully this will, over time, help re-inforce sleeping in the bed.

It's amazing how good I feel today. The sun is shining (first time in a long time here in StL) and I had a good night's sleep. Tonight more of the same (I hope).

Thanks again Clay and Brad!