See that's what we are hoping for. DS1 is almost 18 and I know that eventually they get over this stage - either that or they become more adept at keeping quiet so they don't wake you!
I just feel like I shouldn't tell people that we are happy for him to play in his room all night, provided he doesn't wake us. One of the carers at childcare said her parents bought a lock for her brother's room when he was that age - it was the only way they could keep him in his room..... they would find him in the morning asleep on the floor. She said he never cried or screamed he just wanted to play so they left him to it. Probably not the recommended approach but hey, they got sleep right?!
We did try for ages to resettle him/stay up with him etc but I was heavily pregnant and then had a baby to deal with as well. It just got to that point where it wasn't feasible to sit up with him half the night so when he woke with that wide awake chirpy look that plainly stated he wasn't going back to sleep in a hurry then putting him in front of the telly became our best option (he was never a kid to leave the house or get into anything he shouldn't).
I think you have to do what works for your family.
Ah, very tiring I bet! If you have an old baby gate it should fit inside a normal doorframe and keep him contained providing he can't open it. We have a dog who is not overly kid friendly at times so when dd went into a big girl bed we would put a gate on her door so that if she got out of bed she couldn't leave her room and go wondering around the house in case the dog was inside. In addition like you said, i was nervous that she would find a way outside and we live in bush area! To be honest it became awesome because we would get a little extra sleep on the weekends when we would sneak in their before going to bed and strategically place her fun toys around the room for her to find in the morning! She would then wake up in the morning and play happily in her room and just call out to us when she was done! Some people have found this a bit weird but at the end of the day I knew she was safe in her room and that was the most important thing to me. She could always open her door and yell out plus I had an old video monitor in her room so I could always check what she was up to.
Btw from my response you probably realised that I am a big believer in the importance of parental sleep!!! Nothin wrong with saying that he should play in his room without waking you!!!! Bahahahaha
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