Well, I guess that's the end of the cot then! My daughter started climbing out at 2.25 yrs whilst wearing her sleeping bag, then hopping down 4 flights of stairs, so not only the cot, but the lovely bag had to go before she broke her neck.
We put a barrier up across her door that she worked out how to climb over in 15 mins (remove drawers from chest of drawers, mince round carefully ironed & folded clothes into a nice mess, stack drawers at an angle thus creating staircase. Hop over - brilliant, but infuriating!). Long story short, we had to repeatedly put her back into bed night after night using the same calm words (it's bedtime now. Go to sleep) until we were told about the Sleep Fairy, who only comes to children who .....insert problem (go to bed nicely, in our case) and she leaves a treat to be opened in the morning in parents room. And I was advised "make it chocolate - it works a treat." It did. And the Sleep Fairy was required for about a year.
My daughter was an absolute nightmare, but as you already know, they're not all like that. Both my boys climbed over their cots, so I instantly removed the drop side to create a small "bed" with lots of "gosh you're in a big boy bed now". Both needed to be returned to bed on a number of occasions in the first week or so (yes, it was exhausting) but they did stop escaping pretty quickly.
The buying of the big boy bed or bedding was quite a good incentive and I found with the boys at least, putting one of those barriers that prevent them falling out of a big bed really helped with the feeling of security. My daughter remained a nightmare until the age of 5, well, actually she was pretty awful last night, and she's 8 and a half - but I really think this is her willful nature because the boys have been quite different. I did spend many an evening outside her room returning her to bed using the same quiet words, sometimes 20 times a night, no exaggeration - a large glass of wine helps! But as I said above, the boys took really very little time to get sorted and have remained pretty good ever since. And bribery REALLY works.
Anyone want my 8 yr old? Am happy to trade - dog prefered - LOL!