Big Boy Bed

I can't believe I am writing this post as I thought I would have at least another year before having to say it ... I have a kid sleeping in a big boy bed.  Yesterday morning Jasper and I were woken up suddenly to the cries of our toddler ... in our room.  Yes Jax climbed/fell out of his crib this morning and then came straight to our room.  While we lock the gate at the top of the stairs, there are still plenty of things he could have done during some unsupervised time and so I am really thankful the fall startled him enough to want to come find us right away.  I have had many friends tell me how their kids climbed out of the cribs and the fall down scared them enough to not try it again for many months to a year later.  So I wasn't prepared to give up on the thought of my toddler being contained in his crib just yet.  So for his afternoon nap we put him back in.  Sure enough within 10 minutes he popped up and jumped out before Jasper could even get in there to stop him.  We knew we couldn't let him try that again and possible hurt himself, so big boy bed it was.

Can I say how totally unprepared for this change I am?  I am a researcher and usually am prepared for the next "stage" of change that comes to my kids armed with knowledge, the right baby products, whatever is needed.  I was not ready for this.  While the front side of our crib comes off to make it a toddler bed, I hadn't even thought about ordering the "toddler bed conversion kit" which is basically a small rail in front to keep your kid from falling off the bed while sleeping. Also while the basic childproofing of Jax's room had been done when we first moved in, there were several things I wasn't sure I wanted him having free reign of overnight, so preparations had to be made.  We bought a removable railing at target (which immediately got torn down by Jax and is now back in the car to be return) and removed any and all questionable items from his room.  After bath time we hung out with Jax in his new bed reading books. 

After I tried to get up, Jax got upset so Jasper gave it a try.  He really wasn't too sure about the new set up.   

Finally we decided to just see what happened and leave him in bed.  The first few attempts quickly ended with Jax coming and opening the door.  Have I mentioned what a rookie mom mistake it was to pick lever handles when replacing all the knobs in our house, they are way too toddler friendly.  So after putting Jax back in bed several times, we finally just sat outside the door and held the knob so he couldn't open it.  After 10 minutes he stopped fussing and trying to open the door and just climbed into bed and went to sleep!  Jasper hung out by the door until we were sure he was asleep.  

I was totally prepared for a long night of Jax getting up several times and us having to repeat this process over and over again.  However Jax surprised me and slept in there all night.  This has kind of been the story with him, I expect every big change to be such a big deal and he has taken it in stride.  So now we have a kid in a big boy bed, I can't believe it.