Big Boy Beds

I'm so on the fence with this one. Some days I'm ready to take the plunge, other days I dread the possibility.

This week, we've gotten into making forts before bed. They love it and I can tell when they are getting too tired to continue, but still don't want to go to bed. I think part of it is lack of control about getting out themselves (mixed with part just wanting to have more fun). At times like that, I want to give them the freedom.

Then there are the mornings when they get up way too early and shake the cribs so hard they bang against the wall repeatedly. This wouldn't bother me too much, but I live in an apartment and I have neighbors. Banging isn't good.  But do I really want them to get up that early (or do I really want to get up that early). If they were able to get out and play to amuse themselves, I think it would be okay. But if only one is awake, his brother will wake him up by force. Arggghhh. You see my dilema.

One thing I'm thinking of trying is getting an analog clock for the bedroom like we have in the livingroom. While they can't tell time yet (heck, they cant count past 3), they do know when the clock looks a certain way, specific things happen. They will even point at the clock to tell me its time to watch TV or eat dinner etc. So if I get one for the bedroom and for a bit before I move them to beds, I make a point of showing the time on the clock when they go to bed and when I take them out of bed, they might just get it enough to start. Maybe.

The bedroom is 90% kid proof. The only thing left is the lamp. There is no overhead light so I need a lamp. Nathan has burnt his hand once on the bulb and Corwyn has knocked it over and broken the bulb once. I have to find a wall mounted option before I give them unsupervised free range of the room for longer than a few minutes at a time.

The other thing is the way to restrain them in the room. I dont have doors (long story) and we use curtains for doors. Right now, its a baby gate across the doorway. But my doorways are very crooked (older building) and its so easy for them to just knock the gate over. I have to get that fixed too.

So I guess it wont be tomorrow (which is good, because we dont have beds yet). The list now is clock, lamp, gate, beds. I'll get to work on that.

For those of you who don't use cribs, at what age did you change? How did it go? Would you do it differently if you could?