The day that I have been dreading for a few months now, has finally embarked on us. Tyler is no longer in his crib and is now in his Toddler Bed. A tiny and fun step for Tyler, and giant leap for Mommy!
Since the day I found out I was pregnant, I have been pondering what to do for furniture. Tyler's crib is a convertible crib, so I constantly had the thought in the back of my mind to convert his crib into a toddler bed and buy another crib. There was only one thing wrong with that thought in the back of my mind, and that was the thought in the front of my mind. For months and months, I thought and thought, knowing full and well that I had plenty of time to ponder it. I knew that Riley would be in her bassinet in our room for a few months, so it wasn't a pressing issue. Well, as usual, the timing snuck right up on me.
I decided to take the high road and instead of ordering another convertible crib, I ordered a toddler bed. This way, Riley could use Tyler's crib and then we could eventually convert it into a Toddler bed for her when the time was right. Talk about timing being right...the ONLY reason I put Tyler in a "Big Boy Bed" was because of the need for another crib. Otherwise, he would still be in his crib, where he slept safely, soundly and never tried to climb out of it.
As you can imagine, Sunday was a very hard day for me. I just stood there, staring at his new bed and my eyes filled with tears as the realization hit me. My baby is no longer a baby, and he is well on his way to being his own person. David had the same realization and he was equally as sad, if not more than I was. For Tyler, it was like his Birthday and Christmas all in one! He LOVES his new bed. As soon as I could get the sheet on the mattress, he had all his books on it and was sitting there reading. The books were followed by his monster trucks, of course. We passed the first step...he liked it! Step 2 would come at bedtime, when it was time to go to bed. All day long I asked him "if he was going to sleep in his big boy bed" that night and all day long he told me "NO!". But, when bedtime came, we told him it was time for bed and David put him to bed in his big boy bed (BBB)...no struggle and no fight. He was out in 5 minutes. Throughout that night, Tyler woke whining a few times, but it wasn't until around 3am, that he awoke really crying. David brought him in our bed and as soon as he was back asleep, I put him back in his bed. I really wanted him to wake up in his BBB and see that, "wow, this is so cool!" He did wake up in his BBB, but he did not get up. He waited for me to come in and check on him before he let me know that he was awake and ready for "o-meal" (oatmeal). GASP! He didn't get out of bed on his own?????? That was a total shocker to me! I thought, for sure, that he would be greeting me at my bedside that morning, saying "Hi Mommy". He did wake up sick, so maybe that had something to do with it.
Night #2 in his BBB went even more smooth than Night #1. Again, no struggle to get him in bed and not a peep the entire night. Again, he woke up but did not get up until I went in to check on him in the morning. He has even crawled in bed to take a nap in his bed already!
I guess you can say that he was ready for his BBB at this juncture, but, as with everything else, it is just hard for Mommy to let go and let him grow up. It was a domino effect. Once the crib was empty and ready for Riley, we packed up her bassinet and she, too, enjoyed her Big Girl Crib for the first time. I am struggling a little with the "empty nest syndrome" as our bedroom feels so empty now without her in it, but with time it will get easier. Until then, I will continue my numerous checkups on both kiddos throughout the night. And so it goes...
