Adventures in the Big Boy Bed

I wanted to keep a log of Jack's transition to his new big boy room.  I know the process won't be that easy or even always progress, but it is such a big step for our little man!

Day/Night 1 (June 19th):

We actually had the mattresses the night before, but I don't think Mommy & Daddy were brave enough to try to put him into the new bed.  Also, we wanted him to introduce him to the beds before asking him to sleep there.  Well, on with it.  It was the day of his birthday party, we actually let him take a nap in "Mommy Daddy room" (as he calls it) to avoid any serious meltdowns before his party. 

That evening we decided to try putting him down in his big boy bed.  He had such a fun day wearing himself out and loved showing his friends and family his new room that he seemed pretty comfortable with the idea.  Of course he wanted some snuggles (and he got them of course) and fell asleep easily around 9:30 p.m.  He woke up at 2 a.m. and Matt just brought him to bed with us... we weren't brave enough to push the issue!

Day/Night 2 (June 20th):

Grandma was at our house during the day, and he was good & worn out when he willingly went down for a nap in his big boy bed.  He slept there for over 3 hours, only waking up once in the middle.  She said she easily calmed him down by rubbing his back and shushing him.  When she went in to check on him around the 3 hour mark, he was laying in bed awake.  He asked her to get him out of bed.

After I got home from work that evening, I made sure to help teach Jack how to climb in and out of his bed by himself.  I would never want my child to feel like he can't get out of his own bed, even if that does mean him running into our room at night (plus, we've got a baby gate blocking our bedrooms' hallway from the rest of the house).  That night Matt got home around 8:30 p.m.; we used that time as a little bit of visiting with Matt and then we put him in bed.  He seemed to really need some Daddy time and was really upset when Matt tried to leave.  So, again Matt snuggled him to sleep in his big boy bed.  Low and behold at 2 a.m. (actually more like 1:50 because I remember looking at my phone) Jack woke up again!  This time Matt was able to cuddle him back to sleep, but I had fallen asleep when I noticed Matt coming back to bed... I'm pretty sure he had fallen asleep too, ha ha!

Day/Night 3 (June 21st):

Grandma got him to nap successfully again!  It was a shorter nap but he was in a great mood afterwards, so quality over quantity!

This evening resulted in lots of tears at bedtime (around 8:30 which is our goal), but Matt snuggled with him (seeing the Daddy's boy theme, yet?) and he eventually calmed down and fell asleep.  Since then he had already fallen out of bed twice (all before midnight).  We have chosen not to use a temporary rail, because he's in a twin bed which the mattress is only sitting on a board (not higher on a box spring) and many people I've talked to swear that kids might fall out a couple of times, but they move past it quickly!  We have a full length body pillow laying right next to his bed to cushion any fall and every time he cries out in the night we check on him.  Both times he fell out the crying was relatively short-lived after we cuddled him & put him back in his bed and he fell back asleep in his bed quickly with some shushing and back rubbing.  The second time he had fallen out of bed it looked to me like maybe his feet had gotten caught in the sheets and he got a little more discombobulated when he fell.  When I put him back in I ensured he didn't have any covers on... our house is warm enough anyway!

He's woken for a third time tonight and called for Daddy... he keeps asking to go in Mommy & Daddy's room so the falls might have made him nervous.  We're going to take him to bed with us for the rest of the night, but we'll keep trying to encourage him that his new big boy bed is a very comfortable and safe place for him to sleep! 

There's always tomorrow!