Big Boy Bed Transition!

I went back and forth a million times wondering "should I leave Cory in his crib until after baby comes or switch him before baby comes".  Not sure why it was a big deal to me but I guess I just wanted it to be a smooth transition and I have heard that once toddlers get that freedom, many of them go from sleeping great to getting up out of their beds and roaming into the parents room or playing or just not sleeping as well.  Cory slept wonderfully in his crib after he was a bit over a year old.  When I stopped nursing him at night he changed from a not so great sleeper to a great sleeper who always goes down between 8 or 8:30pm and wakes between 6:30 or 7am.  I know that's not sleeping-in much but I am an early bird anyway so it doesn't bother me as long as I am getting solid sleep at night.  Occasionally he will sleep until 7:30 or 8am if he is really tired or had a super busy day or went to bed later.  So in a way I was dreading changing him and he has never tried to climb out of the crib so I had my mind pretty set that I'd wait until he is climbing out or just see how it goes after he turns 3 and if he wants to pick out a bed I would let him.  Although my main reason to switch him now was that I will have the baby getting up at different hours in the night and if I switch Cory after the baby comes, then would I have 2 getting up in the night and what if they need me at the same time or what if they get up at different hours so I get no sleep.  I figured as he is getting taller he may figure out that he could climb out of his crib so did I want to deal with the bed situation after baby is here or do it now. 

Well anyway, after thinking it through I went on and switched him about 3 weeks ago and he has impressed me and surprised me yet again.  It shouldn't have since he has done so well with every other milestone just like he impressed me with potty training within pretty much 2 weeks of me trying and never has accidents anymore so I am just an overly proud Momma of the things he picks up so quickly ;)  John put the bed together a few weeks ago and Cory wanted to start sleeping in his big boy bed and has slept just the same as in his crib. There have only been a time or two that he has gotten out after I laid him down but typically I just lay him down and he stays in his bed and sleeps solid until the morning.  Sometimes when he wakes up he just calls my name like he did in the crib and I go to get him even though he has the freedom now to get out of bed himself.  Sometimes he does get out of bed when he wakes up in the mornings and opens his door and starts saying "Mommy".  I use his monitor still since our bedroom is on the other side of the house but it has been the smoothest transition I could have imagined which makes me so happy!  Okay so now time to see the cool bed he got.  I wanted to skip the toddler bed for several reasons but mainly because I didn't want him to have to transition beds again in a couple years when he's outgrown the toddler bed so I went on and went with a twin bed.  I was going to just get him a basic bed and add a guardrail to it but then I found this bed on a great deal and got it when it went half off the original price and I knew this was the one!  I know some may think beds should just be for sleeping and not playing but as long as he loves his bed and wants to sleep in it, I thought the bed with the slide would be a totally awesome bed for a kid!   It is a twin loft bed but it isn't super high and it has a ladder and the slide which is detachable so it is a bed he will be able to grow with and use for many many years.  If he outgrows the slide part we will just take it off.  There is also a fort underneath the bed where you can play, store toys and the fabric curtain can be taken off as well if we want to turn it into a more grown up bed as he gets bigger but I don't see him outgrowing this anytime soon!  It fits good in his room since he really didn't have a ton of furniture and he won't need a dressor or anything else since his closet is so big.  The slide and back of the bed are against the wall so it fits nicely in the corner and once we break down his crib soon we will have lots more space because we will move the train set to the other side which is currently in the center of the room!

This first photo is from the website I got it from (not Cory's actual room)

momsbunkhouse.com

 

And here is the excited boy in his room with his new bed that he loves!

 

 

And here he is going down the slide:

 

 

Here he is playing in his "clubhouse" under the bed

 

 

I really could go on and on about this bed and how much we love it but I will just say that I don't think he or I could be more pleased.  He loved it at first sight and has gone down the slide a ton and always wants to play in the clubhouse.  And what makes this bed even sweeter is that he is sleeping so wonderfully that it was like we didn't even change anything at night so we have kept the same routine so I am thankful no random wake up calls in the middle of the night from a toddler who has access to get out of bed now.  Hopefully though my bragging on him won't jinx me but so far so good :)