bye-bye crib

Lately when Ben is done with something or wants someone or something to go away, he tells it "bye-bye."  Sadly none of us was ready, but this weekend we said, "bye-bye crib." Our friends the Lineberrys invited us to their winter time-share in Winter Park last Thursday and we took Ben's pack and play.  Not long after we put him to bed, we looked upstairs to see him emerging from his room.  Ryan reacted quickly and correctly as my jaw dropped and I bounced around mouthing, "no! Way!" over and over as silently as I could.  For the next 1 hour and 22 minutes Ben climbed out repeatedly.  Luckily we knew from friends and research that the best you can do is to put them back in bed without saying a word and while avoiding eye contact.  
He did not nap during our busy Friday and fought for less than 30 minutes that night after a VERY busy and tiring day.  We returned home early Saturday and decided to take the leap and just convert his crib to a toddler bed rather than risking him trying to climb out of his crib and falling on the hard wood floor.  
With two parents vs. one child the rest of the weekend battles were tough but bearable.  Today is Monday though and Ryan went back to work leaving me to fight as a lone soldier.  Today took 1 hour and 38 minutes of repeatedly putting Ben back into bed but again the battle victory goes to the Mom.  Most of what I read shows we should be over this in 2-3 weeks.  There are some 6 month outliers that terrify me but we will battle on! :)