The Great Escape

Can it really be time for a big boy bed??

Our little Houdini can climb out of his crib. He just swings his legs over the side, holds on to the railing and drops down to his feet. It is actually quite a graceful maneuver! Needless to say, Alan was very surprised when he put him down for his nap and two minutes late Caleb emerged from his room and walked into the kitchen! This is a serious gamechanger for us because suddenly Cale can no longer be contained. We can't leave him to cry if he wakes up at night for fear of him falling, which means we need to stay in his room until he is sound asleep at nap time and bed time. So yesterday afternoon, we decided it was time to convert his crib to a bed. He was sooo proud of his bed (and insisted on helping dad put it together). But when it came time to actually go to sleep, things didn't go quite as planned.

Dada's little helper

I have heard of the 'imaginary force field effect' when kids first transition from crib to bed and they lay there calling for their parents to pick them up in the morning because they don't realize they can get out on their own. Let's just say this was not the case with us. Our 7:00 bedtime, turned into 8:00 bouncing and laughing while we took turns watching him and pretending to be asleep. By 9:00 the frustration really began setting in until finally at 9:15 he fell asleep. He has been sleeping through the night consistently for the past 2 weeks, but of course, last night he cried out at 12 and a split second later he was at our bedside. No force field was going to help us last night. After an hour of trying to get him to go back to sleep, we gave up and let him sleep with me. Maybe he just isn't ready for this transition or maybe we should keep trying for a few more nights and hope it gets easier. Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated!!

Little monkey jumping on his bed. Quite cute at 2 in the afternoon. Much less cute at 8:30 pm.