In the daytime, does he play in his playpen? If he does, he probably does think it is playtime. He is to young to distinguish between playtime and sleeptime if he is being put into his play area to sleep! If you have sold the crib, maybe you are going to have to transfer him to a bed... with a bed guard (and maybe a stairgate on the door of his room so he can't get out of his room. The transfer might be hard for a couple of weeks but he will soon get used to it.

no he doesn't play in the playpen, I make sure to keep toys out of it so he knows that it isn't to play in. My only fear is with a bed that he won't stay in it and will have easier access to things in his room to play with

90% of the world parents sleep with their children and have no sleep difficulties. Only in the west, in the last 200 years, parents started putting their babies in cribs. This makes good money for the industry, and harms the children.

Take your child to your bed at the same time you go to sleep and you will not have these problems. In addition, he will grow up with higher self-esteem, better sleep habits, and higher intelligence. No mammal sleeps away from a warm body. Search this site for more information on babies and toddlers' sleep: http://www.nd.edu/~jmckenn1/lab/faq.html