They say you know that your toddler is ready to transition from a crib to a bed when he starts climbing out of the crib. Well, with Owen... not so much. He doesn't always want to go in it, but once he's there, he doesn't like to leave the crib, either. He hasn't shown any signs of seriously trying to escape. He has, however, perfected the art of using super-gravity to refuse to get up under any circumstances. For us, that was the sign that he needed a bed. We were hesitant to make the transition, though, out of fear that he'd be up wandering around all night.
Two weeks ago we went to Ikea, where he climbed into a bed and refused to leave it. So we bought it. The same bed, the same mattress, the same sheets - we didn't want to leave anything to chance. We set it up and let him spend a few days getting used to having it in his room. Then he started asking to be put in the bed, not the crib at night. The first few nights we listened outside his door and it was obvious that he was running around the room having a party, so we'd have to go in and put him in the crib for the night. Then yesterday at naptime, he stayed quiet, so we let him be. When it was time to wake him, we found him fast asleep. Not in the bed, but on the futon, with his head on the wooden armrest, his towels tucked behind him, and his little hand clutching his rocking chair.
He looked very sweet, but he was NOT happy about it when he woke up. Then last night he asked to get in the bed again. We had a long talk about how important it was to stay in the bed. And he did. I listened at the door, but far from having a party, he was singing quietly to himself. The song was his own creation, "Gentle, gentle, I love you," to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. This morning we went in and there he was, fast asleep on his big boy bed:
It's a big day.
