He escaped

Long story short: Last weekend we flew across the country to visit Hubby. We got back on Sunday and I figured Gabe would sleep HARD (as he didn't sleep too well on the trip and I was worn out, so I figured he would be too).
Instead, Gabriel decided to sleep until I came to bed (sometime btw 11 and 12) and then wake up every half hour. Finally, after trying to give him something to drink, give him something to eat, cuddle him, rock him, give him a pacifier, give him a blanket, give him a toy, etc...and nothing worked, I decided he needed to just be sad (aka cry) for a bit and wear himself out. After a little bit, he finally started dying down. YES, I thought. I can finally sleep. (It's approximately 2:30.) And then...THUD. (insert ginormous cry here). Me, being half asleep, is all freaked out because I don't even know my own name, much less why there was a thud and Gabriel is crying. I rush outta bed and find him, yes, on the floor. So I pick him up, make sure he's not broken, and rock him and cuddle him.
Perhaps I should've mentioned it before: I can't sleep when I'm holding my son...or even just touching him...or even when he's anywhere close to me. I had horrid nightmares during pregnancy that I would accidentally suffocate him...and still have said nightmares sometimes, although they're becoming less and less frequent. Other than that, I'm a huge fan of cosleeping and think it makes logical sense. I just can't do it myself...
But after that I couldn't bring myself to put him back in the crib. So he laid in bed with me for the rest of the night, while I kept checking on him to make sure he was still alive (aka didn't get a concussion or have a broken arm I didn't see, etc).

The following day, I was all concerned about how I'd follow this experience up. I know the crib converts, but I think it's missing the toddler bed piece and we only have the pieces to convert it to a double bed (which I'm not gonna do where we're living now). But I don't want to buy a toddler bed and then just have more stuff to store either... So I decide to just put him in his crib again and HOPE he doesn't remember that he escaped the night before. Luckily, he didn't. He remained caged.

The next night (last night), he did the whole crying-every-30-minutes-thing again. So I finally decided to let him soothe himself (after putting blankets down on the floor around his crib in case he did escape). Finally, the crying died down...and (while trying not to move, because he hears me each time I roll over, etc) I peeked out to make sure he was still in his crib and not laying on the floor (and I just missed the loud thud). And sure enough: He's there... But he's not just there. He's standing in his crib, facing me/my bed, with both of his arms flung over the top of the crib, just standing there...STARING at me. CREEPY!!! I don't care if it's my own child. That creeped me out BAD! So I got up and cuddled him some more (in hopes that he wouldn't decided to just stare at me all night long).

It's sorta funny (in a not funny at all type of way) that he wakes up so much at night. When we did sleep training about a year ago, we got him into a GREAT routine where he would wake up 1 or less times a night...and would sleep for about 12 hours straight. Goodness do I miss those days. Now, we're back to the first 9 months of his life, where he'd wake up at least once every three hours. But, and here's the *best* part: He'll sleep straight through (most of the time) until I come to bed...and then will wake up for the last time usually at about 5:00...but then wants to sleep in past the alarm. What? I mean, really? Blerg, says I. Very, very blerg.