Big Boy Bed

Joey has always loved his crib.  So much so that he calls it 'Cribby' and has a terrible time sleeping anywhere else.  We've never had to worry about how we were going to get him to stop sleeping in our bed and start sleeping in his own, that's for sure.  When he was tiny we were very conscious to not let the habit start of him sleeping in our bed and it apparently worked well because he will not sleep with us.  There have been times when he was sick and I really wanted to keep him with me, but he couldn't fall asleep until I finally gave in and put him in his crib.  He'd wake up in the middle of the night, I'd bring him into our bed, he'd snuggle in and settle himself down and then ask to go back to his Cribby.  He loves his crib.

This, combined with the fact that he normally sings, and plays, and flops around for quite some time before he actually falls asleep had us totally spooked about letting him out of the confines of his crib.  Ultimately, we decided to make the switch and did so on New Year's Eve.  We talked up the idea of his bed, he helped his dad build it for a bit, and then played over my mom's so we could rearrange their room.  We planned to take the rocker and night stand out but in the end decided to keep it for now.  Eventually, we'll switch things around a bit more once Grace is older.

 We let Joey skip his nap in hopes of totally tuckering him out that day.  It was New Year's Eve, so we went to Joe's sister's house as we normally do and then came home around 8:30.  We talked up the bed and how he was big now and got to sleep in big boy bed like mommy and daddy's and Sissy would be sleeping in the crib because she is a baby. I tried to make it more special by emphasizing how his bed is just for big boys and Grace couldn't go on it because she is too tiny and it was just special for him but he corrected me with a quick, "Sissy can come on it. Her can share it. I will share it with her.  I will yet her."  And, of course, he did.   

 We read a story that night, The Cat in the Hat, a new tradition in his big boy bed.  The major reason we went with a twin instead of a toddler bed is that I have long been dreaming of being able to snuggle up and lay with him in his room as we read a story before bed.  And now we're there and it's going unbelievably splendidly.

And, truth be told, we shouldn't have expected anything else.  He's two and a boy and all things that come along with that, but he is really just one fantastic child.  He more than rises to every occasion and just makes us feel like the luckiest parents.

So far he has yet to get out of his bed at all. He rolls right over after we finish our bed time story, I turn out the light and come back to him and say, "Love you to the .." and he fills in "moon."  I say, "Goodnight, sleep ..." and he fills in "tight". And then we each say "I love you" and give a kiss.  We've done the same thing ever since I can remember, even before he was old enough to fill anything in.  I will never forget his little baby voice trying to say moon and it coming out as "noon" for the longest time.  I will also never forget the exact same smile he gave me for months every time he said "noon."  On the day before he turned two, his last day of being one, I took pictures of everything all day long to document his last day of him being one.

In his crib, on his last day of being one, telling me "noon."

And so, this has so far been a wonderful change.  He still is taking his naps in his crib. When I bring him up at nap time he says, "Where's I going? Cribby Crib or Beddy Bed?" Ha! So I'm thinking 'Beddy Bed' is starting to rank right up there with 'Cribby Crib' and all is well.    

 A little bit of a funny story -

On the morning of Joey's second night in his bed I went in to get him, turned to face the bed as I walked into the room and couldn't find him.  I'm not lying when I tell you I'm pretty sure my heart literally stopped beating for a second and I totally felt the panic you would expect to feel when you can't spot your two-year-old. I have this crazy fear of someone coming into our house and stealing our kids so of course this was my first completely rational thought, then I flashed to where he must be hiding as I walked toward his bed.  And then I saw him, sleeping with his but up in the air like a six-month-old does, totally scrunched up where his pillow should be, with his body in the complete opposite direction that it should have been. He basically had lined himself up exactly how you would place your pillow, scrunched into a ball, and fell asleep like that.  If you scroll up you can see the bookcase that is by his bed.  It protrudes from the wall just enough that it completely hid his body at the top of his bed. Let me tell you, in that moment he looked sooo tiny in that bed .. he in fit in the pillow spot with room to spare.

We're so proud of our big boy and how adaptable he's been.

We're also so proud of how unaware he seems that he can actually get himself out of the bed. Ha!

Hopefully it's a looong time before that changes.