The Big Boy Bed

We've finally taken the plunge and put our little baby Greyden into a big boy bed. That's right. Up until this point he's been in his crib. Talk about guilt. Part of me hated putting him into the crib every night. I mean, the kid is almost 2 1/2. However there was a bigger part of me (a much, much bigger part) that loved the fact that when we put him in his crib at night, the following morning he was still exactly where we'd left him. I was having a hard time with the concept of letting go of that convenience.

We decided to buy a toddler bed off Craigslist for him. Yes, his super expensive crib converts to a toddler bed, but it doesn't convert to THIS:

Awesome, right? Well worth the $150 investment for the bed, new stickers, and new bedding. Especially if it makes the transition easier on us him.

We set it up while he was at daycare, then took him upstairs when he got home. He didn't even see it at first. Just pointed to the extra Disney Cars sheet we left sitting on his changing pad and asked "what's that?" After we rolled our eyes over the fact that the kid missed a ginormous race car sitting in the middle of his already small bedroom and turned him around to see it, I think it's safe to say he was shocked. He immediately asked where the steering wheel was (it's a bed, it doesn't have one) and told us to take it downstairs so he could drive it (it's a bed, we can't). After we'd gotten those two disappointments out of the way, he was thrilled. He climbed up it, in it, over it.....requested that Sissy get "tied up" too (that's apparently 2 year old speak for "tucked in", since that's what he requests every time he lays down in it) and generally had a blast. (Getting him downstairs for dinner a few minutes later? Not so much a blast.)

It's hard to tell who loves the new bed more.

 

 

 

Bedtime. I don't think he's ever smiled like this when we told him it was time to go to bed before.

 

Of course the big test wasn't whether or not he'd like it. We knew we'd secured those points with the purchase of the bed in the first place. The big test was how he'd react to it once we put him in it for the night. Were we doomed to have a toddler visiting our room 54 times? I could see it happening. In fact, one of the reasons we kept him in his crib for so long was because of my paranoia of him navigating the stairs at night and wandering the house. So, in an attempt to head off any late night visits, when we tucked him in (tied him up? I hope he doesn't tell daycare that), I told him that if he needed anything to say "Mommy, Daddy, I need you please" and we'd be listening and come help him. He seemed fine with that and only requested that Daddy stay and watch him for a little bit (like he does every night).

Night one + no late night visits to our room = success! Well, except for the part where he fell out of bed. He somehow worked himself perpendicular to the mattress and rolled off the nose of the car. He started crying because he couldn't get back in so Kevin went up, put him back in bed, walked out, and Greyden went right back to sleep. Definitely didn't think it would be that easy.  

The next morning I heard him waking up so I was watching in the camera monitor to see what he'd do. Turns out I didn't need to worry about him wandering around. He woke up and sat up in bed. Looked around for a bit. Went over to his dresser to see if his paci was there. Got back in bed. Hung out for a while. Pretty soon he stood up in the middle of his bed and announced "I'm pooping!" A few seconds later (and louder) "I'M POOPING!" About a minute after that he said "Mommydaddy need you please." After I got over my shock that he'd actually remembered what I told him the previous night, I got on the monitor microphone and told him that I was getting dressed and would be up in a minute. By the time I got up there he was standing patiently at the top of the stairs waiting for me.

Last night (night 2) was the night I was really dreading. Kevin was out of town so I was on my own. And there was a thunderstorm going on. Of course. I have to say he did great again though.  He was even the one to tell me that it was time to go to bed. Once we were there I had to endure about 30-40 minutes of him asking "what's that about?" (his all time favorite phrase right now) every time he heard the thunder or saw the lightning, followed by "why?" (his second favorite phrase right now) after I answered him. I'm at least grateful that he wasn't scared of it. Probably because I told him that the lightning was Lightning McQueen and that the thunder was race cars.

This is how we spent the evening after he got home from daycare the following day. And it's probably how we'll spend this evening as well. And most likely the next.

And, since the Hockenberrys are never ones to take the easy road (seriously, we HAVE to do something about that), we also decided to take his pacifier away from him when he got the big boy bed. We'd been putting off breaking him of it because of his major attachment to it even though he only used it for naps and bedtime. It turned out to be a million times easier that I could have ever imagined it being. When he asked for his paci the first night, we told him that he was a big boy now with a big boy bed and big boys didn't need pacis. He was fine with it (after the requisite 27 "whys?") and went right to sleep. Last night he cried a little, but after I reminded him that he was a big boy now he was fine. This morning he only asked where it was. When I reminded him that it went bye-bye, he just looked at me as seriously as can be and said "Daddy took it." Since it was a statement and not a question, I agreed that yes, Daddy probably took it. (I just couldn't bring myself to tell him he was wrong and potentially shatter his self-confidence forever. Therapy is expensive!) Sooooo.........good luck tonight Daddy! My job here is done.