Sam is one active little dude. He turns two(!) in a couple of weeks, and he's reached some big milestones lately...like learning to crawl out of his crib.
One night, a couple weeks ago, I heard his little feet hit the floor (at least he stuck the landing) and then pitter-pattering: thump thump thump thump thump. For a split second, I thought, "What the..." but then I shot out of bed like a rocket. I found my previously contained boy, standing at his door. At 2 a.m.
And so we bit the bullet, and switched him to a "Big Boy Bed." After debating between a toddler bed, a twin bed with a guard rail and just a twin mattress, we settled on the latter and placed in on the floor.
To make matters even more exciting for Sam, we moved back into our house after doing some remodeling. So there we were on Sunday night: new bed, new room, new house.
We tried to keep the same bedtime routine. We tried to put him to bed without much ado, aside from getting him psyched up for his new bed. But the little guy had something else in mind. For two hours after turning off the lights, my husband and I traded off laying in his bed with him...or, without him.
Sam, the active little explorer that he is, cruised around his room. He'd lay down for a little while, then shoot out of bed, rearrange some books. Lay down, shoot out of bed, move his sippy cup from the book cubby to the little table. Lay down, shoot out of bed and play with the ladybug that glows colored stars. Change from red ("wreee"), to green ("neeen") to blue ("booo!"). Lay down. After two hours, he just collapsed on the bed.
Once there, he slept...until about 2 a.m., when I heard him wake up. (I wasn't really asleep up 'til then anyway, worrying about him falling out, escaping from his room, etc.) I spent the rest of the night in his bed with him. We slept in his twin until 4:45 a.m. That's when we got up for the day.
I get it, I do. He's never had the freedom before to explore his room at night. He's been in a cage (his crib), and now he's free. He has things to do. Books need rearranging, sippy cups need moving. Stars need to change colors. I get it.
I can fully appreciate freedom--my running lately has given me that. I've had progress with a physical therapist treating me with dry needling (OUCH, big time) and nerve openers for my back/hip/hamstring, and strengthening exercises. Running, for me, is freedom. And I'm happy to have it back.
Hopefully, I'll soon have sleeping back, too.
I bought the door knob covers to keep my kids "trapped" in their rooms once we got rid of cribs. :) It gave me some security at night since their rooms are upstairs and our's is down. We weren't using baby gates anymore since he (my 1st) could navigate the stairs but I feared him walking around in the middle of the night.
ReplyDeleteWhen our first did this we struggled with the mattress on the floor for about a week until someone mentioned trying a crib tent. We tried it and it worked. We used it with our 2nd, and plan on using it with our 3rd when she figures out how to get out. I think they're too little for beds at age 2 and thereabouts. Both times it bought us more time until they were old enough to ask for a bed. Then they slept through, no prob.
ReplyDeleteDr Ferber suggests gating the door with a baby gate in his book, at least that way he is in his room. The novelty of getting in and out of bed (should)wear off eventually... right?
ReplyDeleteAlthough my comment is not directly related to your last post, I wanted to say how much I enjoy reading your blog, which I started doing when expecting Malo, now 8 months 1/2 (well, 1/2s ARE important, when one is still counting in months!).
ReplyDeleteThe other day, as I googled "to wean", which I am in the process of doing, your March 2009 post "When to wean" was the first thing which came up, which I thought was great! I read it, and thought I could have written it myself (well, not as well, but still, trying to express exactly the same feelings). Glad to see I am not the only one silly enough to think my son could love me less once I stop breastfeeding! Glad to see I am not the only one to thik running and breastfeeding are not always the dream combination!
Wondering what my own little devil will do, a couple of years from now, when he, too, wants to make the most of his newly found freedom!