Big Boy Bed

Saturday, during Davis' attempted nap, we decided that it was time to get Davis a big boy bed and make the transition out of the crib.  The breaking point came when Davis threw all his books out of the crib and each thump made mom think he had fallen out of the crib.  After the nap was abandoned, we headed to Ikea to check out their toddler beds.

Davis loooooved Ikea.  It was like going to a giant indoor playground with lots of other kids, unimaginable amounts of furniture to climb on and TOYS.   Kristen and I traded chasing Davis around the store and checking out the beds.  We settled on a twin bed that converts to a loft bed.  The rest of the evening was a stressful blur.  We left Ikea at 4:15, were home at 5:00, ordered food to pickup, started putting the bed together, picked up the food (they lost the order, adding 30 minutes), had a frantic dinner and finished putting the bed together.  At one point, we put Davis in his crib and he was able to get a foot up to the crib rail, so we were none too soon making the transition.

By the time we were ready to put Davis to bed, it was already 30 minutes past his bedtime and he was very wired from all the excitement and changes.  After 45 minutes running around his room and trying to put him to sleep like we did camping, I ended up letting him fall asleep in my arms while standing up, then over the course of about 20 minutes, I sat down the the bed, lay down with him on me, then slowly slid him off into the bed.  He ended up sleeping great.  Mom had to go in about 2am but he went right back to sleep with a quick hug in the bed.

Today, we've already found that it is much easier to transfer him from car to bed than car to crib.  I carried him in asleep then just cuddled with him until he was solidly sleeping in the bed.

Davis was a lot of help putting the bed together:

Cool new toys!

He took everything out of the box for us

The final results:

How many books?

Davis has recently started taking a book into his bed at night.  Our nighttime routine is usually bath, brush teeth, optional naked chase, a cup of milk in one of our laps and one or two stories before lights out and bedtime.  Davis usually sleeps with his dog and a few other animals.  However, in the last couple of days, he has insisted on taking books to bed with him.  Last night it was Goodnight Moon and tonight it was his Kindermusic book This is my Dance.  We've still be turning off the lights on him, but both last night and tonight, he was trying to read the books in the dark.  Tomorrow, we'll be adjusting his bedtime to leave the light on so he can read in his crib.  It is really great to see him wanting to read books.