Big Boy Beds

Well, they're really toddler beds, but they are not cribs.

I went with toddler beds for reasons of economy. It was economy of space in that while I could have fit 2 twin beds in the room, there would be no fun space left in there.  It was financial economy because I could use the crib mattresses, saving me cash there. I lucked out and got these beds for 100 from another twin mom. Her boys used them for 6 years (cribs first, then beds) and the mom before her used them for 5. I'm hoping to use them until they are 5 or 6 and old enough to move to bunk beds. I'm not keeping the crib sides and base around; I really don't have space to store it.

I'd love to say its been a walk in the park, but it has had its challenges. That said, they are doing really well, better even than I thought they would. They aren't quite their usual really easy to put to bed in the crib boys, but so much better than I know many people go through.

They're going to bed a tiny bit later than usual to make sure they are good and tired. The routine is kept as close to what it was when in cribs as possible. They get changed, then brush teeth and wash hands and faces (bath on bath night). Then they get to play in the bedroom for 15 minutes or so. They like to kick me out of the room for this most of the time. Sometimes, about once a week, while playing like this, they will empty every shelf, door and cupboard. This was the signal to put them in their cribs (after they 'helped' to put things away). But now there are no cribs and nothing stopping them from getting right back out. In fact, while one is helping me put clothes back, the other will be starting over again at the other end, taking it all down. Sigh. So now I 'order' them to sit in their beds while I toss clothes off the floor onto where ever they land.

The old routine had me reading, while they were in bed. Now they will either sit on my lap or the edge of their beds while reading. When we read two books, that was it. Now they will run and get another book before I can get up. I'm encouraging (with mixed results) reading to themselves in bed like they used to. If I leave the room though, the clothes will get tossed so I need to stick around.

Then its tuck in time. And this is really varying, day to day, nap to nap and bedtime to bedtime. None has been exactly the same. But once they accept that its sleep time, they do not get out of bed again. In fact, if a monkey falls out of bed, they scream for me to come pick it up. Ah well, the balance is coming slowly.

It sounds like torture, but the first night, from lights out to both being asleep was 40 minutes. The next night was 30, then 20. It was back again to 30 tonite. Corwyn did not want me to leave the room, for any reason. This might be because I went to work today.

But they are asleep now. And I finally had dinner. Oh and a glass of wine. To give you an idea of how often I drink, the wine is the same bottle I opened when we stopped the bottles. Yeah, that's me, party animal.

So what's next? Potty training of course. We need more time to adjust to this change. I'm not sure when we'll give it a try. It will be before the end of the summer though. I may need to stop using cloth diapers before then. They are too tall and butt cracks lead to poop leaks and, well, yuck.

Enjoy the video. It was shortly after they saw the beds for the first time, but before they actually had to sleep in them.