Well I lied. The next post was supposed to be about Mason's 2nd bday but alas, it's not! It's about Mason reaching a milestone. I decided that it was time to take down the old crib and set up the toddler bed. This isn't the first time we tried this. When I first moved into this house, I had bought a new 3-in-1 crib and the toddler bed was assembled, the crib was not. I thought we'd try it out. Mason was only 17 months old and clearly not ready. I chased him from bedroom to toy room for hours on end. I tried laying beside him and eventually had him fall asleep in my bed only to transfer him when I new he was asleep. It lasted maybe 4 days. By then I was exhausted from the lack of sleep and Mason suffered as he was off his schedule. So I disassembled the toddler bed and an hour later, had the crib together (I bought it second hand = no instructions).
Fast forward 7 months. Mason didn't exhibit any 'signs' of being ready. I just figured it was time. He has only gotten out of his crib a handful of times and they were all at his Dad's house. I guess the crib I had, has higher bars? As I wrote before, Mason has been sleeping in my bed for the past few weeks and so I thought that maybe he'd like his own 'real' bed. One that was lower to the ground and one that wasn't..well, mine.
So I told him what the plan was, got out my tools and let him 'help'. Once we got the crib apart, he was pretty hyper. He had fun jumping on his mattress which was now on the floor. It only took me about 20 mins to set up the toddler bed. While I had enough nuts and bolts for the crib, I seem to be missing a set of four for the toddler bed. The bed is sturdy but I'd like to add these. Within minutes, I had the bedding on and Mason was quite excited. He jumped in and out, under the covers and on the covers. The timing was great too as it was 7:30 and I wanted to get the bedtime routine started early in case he wasn't going for this new setup.
At first my attempts to get him to settle down (he was hyper and over heating) proved unsuccessful. He clearly was not wanting to sleep. After much coaxing to lay down, I finally got exasperated, ensured the bedroom was super childproofed (now that he wasn't held in a cage) and shut the door. All was good for about 10 mins until I heard a noise and went to investigate. Just as I reached the door, the door handle started to turn. As he opened the door, I told him to go to bed. Which scared the bejezuz out of the poor little dude (whoops) and he started to cry. He cried that he wanted to watch tv. lol. I ended up rocking (all 25lbs) of him in my arms until he calmed. Laid down with him, a few more songs and I was out the door. This time he stayed in and actually fell asleep. With two blankies and a lovey (which he's *never* asked for before).
I'm feeling pretty proud right now! Very successful night of a major change for Mason and extra bonus points if he sleeps in his big bed all night! Will be interesting in the morning as he'll have the ability to roam around the house if I don't hear him get up. Maybe I should put a bell on the door! I'm sure this won't be the last post on the subject :)
Here is the video of the bed changeover.
