When to transition to toddler bed

First, I am not in any rush to get my baby out of his crib. With that being said, when do I move him out? He is very large for his age. He is 9 months and is 32 inches long and 26 pounds. He is not walking yet, but is pulling up like a champ and starting to climb. He has a dropside crib and I have left his side down with the mattress at the lowest setting until now. Can I trust to leave the side up? It is a good, sturdy crib, but the recalls have me nervous. What should I do?  Any advice would be appreciated!

My twins started climbing out of their crib at 9 months old too. We ended up buying crib tents and used those until we were comfortable that they understood staying in bed all night. We moved them to toddler beds at 14 months old and completely childproofed their room just in case.

Before we got the crib tents, we would wake up and find them playing with toys in the middle of the night, they were just too young to know that nighttime means stay in bed not playtime.

Goodluck! 

My boys were climbing out of the crib and I just moved them to a toddler bed at a year. The only problem with that is they do not always stay, soooo, you have to stay with them until they fall aslepe. That can be a challenge. My oldest, at a year, knew the toddler bed meant freedom so he refused to go to sleep, and after an hour or so he would finally pass out (and so would I), then he would go roam the house. It started a new challenge. You really have to childproof the bedroom, the house, etc. I tried baby gates on the doorway but that never worked. He would destroy his room if I locked him in it, tear down wallpaper, break blinds, etc. LOL. The joys........

I always heard, "Keep them in there until they're climbing out!" lol... but its pretty much true. Once you take your child out of the crib you have a whole new set of worries that never end! lol I transitioned my son into a toddler bed when he was about 1 1/2. Glad I waited.