Big Boy Bed!

I'm not sure I'm ready for this yet. Katie was three and a half before we decided it was time for her to transform the cotbed into the bed. She never showed one inkling towards climbing out. I was warned it would be different with a boy. 

It was! It is!

My, only just, 2 year old little man has been honing his climbing skills for the past month and he breeched the cot wall two days ago when he was resisting having a nap. My reward for insisting he have a sleep was that he climbed over the side and marched out the bedroom door. My heart sank. No more would I be able to contain him for a nap. It was time for the Big Boy Bed, if only for his safety. It's certainly not for my sanity. 

You have to admire the logic of the universe. It lets me finally get Katie sorted again at bedtime and, just as we were starting to enoy being able to put the children to bed with ease, Pip learns to climb out of his cot so now needs a bed which he can climb out of with no hassle at all. This obviously means we're back to Bedtime 101 again.

I guess it's a good excuse to drink wine!

And I am a pro at bedtime these days. I barely break a sweat with a two hour bedtime battle although I am pretty fed up with being back here again.

Bring it on.....

So today. I transformed the cot into this....

I indulged in a little soppy, sad moment as I said goodbye to my baby Pip and acknowledged this will be the last time I have a baby in a cot. I do love cots. Children are so adorable in a cot. Pip is growing up so very fast. My baby is very much a toddler now.

*sob*

So how was our first bedtime?

I was ready for battle. I put Pip to bed and waited outside his door for the inevitable thud, patter, patter, patter followed by the door handle turning and the door creaking open. We did that 12 times before I changed tactics and sat on the chair in Pip's room, in the dark, and closed my eyes and did my yoga breathing. Pip isn't yet brave enough to get out of bed when I'm sitting in the room so he closed his little eyes and was snoring within 5 minutes. 

I crept out of the room on tiptoe, slowly turning the creaky door handle and sneaking outside onto the landing. 

Katie, TCM and I did marshmallow high fives outside his room and cursed the noisy fireworks that I was terrified would wake him.

It was short lived though because a little body pattered into our room at 4am. His bed was too cold to send him back into it so he came in with us. After a lengthy 3/4 hour of excitement at having cuddles he finally fell asleep until 7am. I have added a full sized duvet to his bed tonight and tucked him in tight to try and counteract that issue.  After the excitement of Katie's birthday party today however it took me 2 hours to get both children to sleep with most of those 2 hours sat in Pip's room, in the dark, trying not to fall asleep myself and listening to my stomach rumbling. It was like a comedy of errors. The cats started pawing at the door and Katie kept calling me. Pip sat gazing up at me with his big blue eyes, taking it all in. If I left the room, he padded out. I tried laying on the bed with him which he thought was great and he kept kissing my hand. Sitting in the chair seems to work best. I was wishing I could have my iPad after the 2 hours. I was fit to combust by the end of it all. We finally ate dinner at 10pm!

So that's that. The cot has gone. I wasn't quite ready for it but my son moves at a sprint and, as usual, I'm trying to keep up with him. I foresee some testing times ahead as he adjusts to the bed. If you have any tips for getting such a little one to stay in bed I'd be delighted to hear them. I guess strapping him down is unacceptable?