Back up to the last week in June- the weekend leading up to the 4th of July holiday weekend. John was scheduled to fly out that Monday for work for the whole week. Meanwhile at home, the week was absolutely between work and backing our family of 3 for our upcoming vacation. It was in the wee hours of the morning on Tuesday. James woke up at 2:00. After battling him for about an hour I finally put him in his crib and attempted to let him cry it out. Amidst the emotional chaos the final time I went back in his room (he was super irate at this point!) I discovered him standing on the outside of his crib!! I was completely in shock, frazzled, tired and was freaking out. Not having any other option, I brought him back into bed with me where we both cried. :(
Once we were up and functional on Tuesday (insert massive amounts of coffee here), James was dropped off at daycare and I headed to work, a frazzled mess. I immediately knew I had to figure out how to remove his crib from his room and make everything safe before bedtime on Tuesday night. I took advantage of my lunch break for that afternoon to run home and frantically clean up J's room and make it injury proof as much as possible. Also amidst this chaos, I was hosting some family for dinner Tuesday evening. Great timing, but luckily I took advantage of my resources. I had a few of them help move a dresser and anchor another dresser in J's room.
I was so anxious about how the bedtime routine would go fir the first time sans crib. I tried to make it as fun as possible for him, talking up how awesome the "big boy bed" is and how much of a big boy he was. He was so proud and kept exclaiming, "Big Boy Bid (bed)!". Instead of reading books in the chair as usual I sat on the floor next to the bed while J excitedly sat in his big boy bed. We read books and then I coaxed him to stay in bed with the help of his sound machine and "moon and stars" light projector. He totally bought it, stayed in his bed the whole night, and hollered "MAMA!" as he woke up the next morning. He was so proud of himself and I was so proud of him! The experience truly opened my eyes to how much he does in fact understand and that giving him some say in the process goes a long way. :)
**Fast forward to current date and the bedtime routine. I wish I could say it is going swimmingly, but there have been some hiccups. Thanks to a vacation amidst this transition, it had really thrown James off. While on vacation he was on an air mattress on the floor in our room and took many liberties to party. Needless to say the party has continued since we have been home. He's been staying up 2 hours later than usual making the evenings hard to get any dishes, laundry, etc accomplished. Getting him to stay in bed has also been a struggle and he often needs to be rocked to sleep. He has also been waking up in the middle of the night and has been somehow finding his way into mom and dad's bed. John and I feel totally defeated and are in the process of getting on the same page and remaining consistent. On one had it's so easy to say we need to stick to a plan, and then on the other hand I realize this stage won't last forever and someday I'll wish he would snuggle with me. But, somehow, we have to find a middle group agreeable for all parties involved. :)
A funny story though about the night of 7/18. James found his way into our room at 5:00 a.m. Monday morning. With "blankey" in tow of course. Well, amidst the bedtime chaos, apparently blankey didn't make it's way back to James' room and mommy discovered it in our bed as we went to bed. I told John immediately that this night was not going to go well, that James would wake up and totally wonder where "blankey" went. Wouldn't you know it, at midnight James woke up, and the first thing he said as John went in his room was, "blankey go?". :)
There are so many fun and challenging things about this stage of parenting. So many things I thought I would never do that I have now done, and so many things that I thought I would do but have not done. :) The joys of parenting.
Sweet boy, please give your parents a break and return to your old ways of being a good sleeper. But regardless, we sure love you bunches!
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| Some before pics leading up to bedtime and a before and after of the crib. We now have the toddler rail installed. |
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| The expression I received once I went in his room after his first night in his big boy bed! Tear! :( |
