Coming Off the Rails

Before we put Anderson in his twin bed, we decided it would be best to do the transition in baby steps. So we took off the front part of his convertible crib and turned it into a toddler bed. We knew the transition wasn't going to be easy, but we didn't know it would be difficult. At first, during the day, Anderson loved being able to climb into his own bed at any given time. He would even bring books and sit in his bed and read. It was a much different story at bedtime. The little boy that would happily say "night-night" to his mommy and talk/play in his crib before going to sleep now cried when I turned off the lights and had to be coaxed into getting in his bed. The first couple of nights, we stayed with him in his room, thinking he just needed awhile to get used to his new environment, even though everything was the same except the front rail was off. We created a mound/hill of pillows so that if he rolled off, it would be a soft landing. And he rolled off many many times. Every night actually. In fact, one morning, I couldn't open the door to his room and only when I looked down on the floor did I see that it was Anderson on the floor:


I let him be and waited a couple minutes until he moved and was then able to open the door. This kid moves a lot when he sleeps!

So after a few nights staying with him, we decided that it was enough. He could sleep on his own. Well, he didn't want to. He would come out of his room, wanting to play, making his way in his little blanket sleeper and we would dutifully lead him back to his bed. Then it became a game to him. He would peek outside the door, and then take off! Running either to you or in the other direction. Usually, we would end up giving up after 45 minutes of this game. Not only were we tired of playing it, but he was SO riled up from it and he couldn't calm down. So, we gave in, stayed in his room with him, usually holding his hand and pretending to sleep.

Then, we got the baby gate. Every night, we put up the gate at his doorway so he can't get out anymore. The first night was rough. He stood at the gate for about 30 minutes and cried while we hid out of view. He eventually gave up and fell asleep on his mound of pillows. The next night, it was 10 min. of crying and then he climbed back into his bed and fell asleep.

Now, he's in his twin bed and the gate is still up. He still cries at the gate for about 5 minutes, then decides to climb back into his bed with a book, reads, and then falls asleep. But it seems as though it's getting better. He no longer screams at when I put down the last book and tell him it's time to go to sleep. He whines a little but that's about it. He gets into bed with his bear and hippo and waits for mommy to climb in with him and sing him some songs. It's still hard to hear his cry but I know he's fine. I know it's just an adjustment period. I know he will eventually go to sleep when he's ready. As soon as we feel like he might be asleep, we peek in there ever so carefully, cover him with a blanket and wonder how our little baby grew up so fast.

Oh, sorry there aren't any pictures of the finished bed quite yet. It's just that when there is actually time to take pictures of things, he's usually sleeping in it!