Well we did it. We’ve been talking about getting Andrew his own bed in his room for a long time. Since about the beginning of the year. We set a goal of having it in there by April. No rush on getting him to sleep in there either. Just naps for now. But he likes it and I have a feeling he wants to go to bed in there soon. Last night when he was tired he went to his bed first and not the chair for rocking! *sniff
At first I had said let’s wait until he is fully weaned to push a bed on him. Too much change all at once. But it’s one of those things that we followed his lead with. Well, gentle nudges to see how he liked it. We started putting him on a blanket on the floor in his room when he fell asleep in the van. Andy would set up his toys for him in there and he seemed to wake up excited to be sleeping with all of his toys. Then I rearranged his room to allow for a ‘permanent’ blanket on the floor that he could see all the time. He could lay there and watch shows and take naps on it. And it was where we planned to put the actual bed when we got it.
My mom had a day bed she said we could use until we needed something more. Perhaps when Paul T is ready for a bed too and we can move him into the same room – BUNK BEDS! The thing we really like about the day bed is if we turn it toward the wall it has a built in rail to keep him from falling out.
Andrew really does love it. He plays in there. He gets up there and throws everything out. He climbs in and out of it. He lays and watches a show. He’s slept in it once when we first brought it home. He fell asleep in the van and Andy and I rushed to get it put together while Andrew slept on the couch (Paul was helping us) and when it was ready we put Andrew in it. He slept through all that and woke up to find himself in his new big bed in his room with Mommy and Daddy looking at him! He seemed very happy about it.
We had talked about it for a while too. We let him know we were going to get it for a few days before we went. We showed it to him at my mom’s house before that even. We just really prepared him (and me!) and went super slow. We plan to do the same thing with gently encouraging him to sleep there. But he will always be welcome back into our bed if he needs it sometimes.
I must admit I am a bit sad. It’s a happy sad. I’m also not sure how to get this started. We got a nightlight for in there and we’ll keep lights on throughout the apartment in case he wakes at night and wants to come to our bed. But I just don’t know how to start the process. Andy has said he’d sleep in there on the floor if need be for a while. Again, we aren’t rushing and what we need to do will unfold naturally I am sure.
And Paul T is so close to real crawling, he even takes “steps” before collapsing. He is going forward using his moves now. His second tooth is almost out. Thought I felt it this morning. I need to check again since he’s had a nap and things grow best when sleeping. He is also about to sit up from his crawl position. He can sit for a while on his own but going into that sit position is a big deal. Makes for much easier examination of toys and things.
Look for pics on the web album of Andrew new bed!