Big Boy Bed

Last week, Ryan and I did a little bit of an overhaul on Owen's room - got rid of some stuff, moved things around, put his toy boxes in there, and biggest of all, converted his crib into a big boy bed! I had told myself (and had been told by other parents) that I wouldn't change his bed to a big boy one until he finally tried climbing out of his crib. He has made a couple of attempts when he was really mad about going to bed, but almost fell one of those times and I think it scared him enough that he never made a good attempt. BUT, Owen has slept in a regular bed a few times before - in hotels and in our new camper - and did a GREAT job. So Ryan and I decided we would try it out at home.

Owen sleeping in a regular bed at the hotel a few months ago. He started out under the covers with his head on the pillow, in the middle of the night was like this, and then woke up laying "normal" again. 

The nice thing about his crib is that we just take out a few screws, pop off the front rail, and voila - instant big boy daybed. So I knew that if it wasn't working out, we could always revert to the crib by screwing the rail back on in a few minutes. But thankfully, we haven't had to!

Owen was so excited about his new big boy bed. After we had switched it, we were all in the living room watching TV and Owen comes up to me and says, "Thank you my big boy bed, Mommy!" and gives me a kiss on the cheek. Stuff like that just melts my heart! It was so genuine. I told him, "Your welcome, but Daddy did most of the work!" So he wandered over to Ryan and said, "Dad! Thank you my big boy bed!" and gave him a kiss on the cheek, too. What a sweetie!!

So at bed time I tucked him in under the covers and sat on the floor next to him and read him a story. After the story, he was ready to get back up! Oh, NO! I thought he was going to be so excited about his bed that he would have no problem. Turns out he just needed to give Daddy a hug and kiss. After that, he snuggled back in bed and I went to get ready for bed. I was walking back and forth down the hallway a few times and would peek in his room. Once, he was standing on his bed, getting a monkey down from the changing table and then snuggled back under the covers. Another time he was just sitting up, playing with his stuffed animals. When I finally got into bed, I could hear him singing to himself and talking about Daddy's "big twuck!" (He LOVES Ryan's truck. LOVES!) And after a while, he was quiet, so I went to check on him again, and I couldn't resist taking a picture.

Sleeping like an angel!

Slept all night, no problems! The next morning I went in to wake him up and asked him if he had a good nigh-night in his big boy bed. "YEAH! My wuv my big boy bed!"

We've had really good luck with this little boy since the day he was born, but I'm surprised at how well this transition has gone...so far. (Knocking on wood!) We had one night where he woke up at 3 am and I had to put him back in bed and read him a few stories and then pretend to sleep with him. That didn't work, but after about an hour - hour and a half, he let me go back to my bed and stayed in his. Otherwise, he stays in bed until he wakes up!

Actually, I can tell that he sometimes gets out of bed and plays with his toys for a little while, just by the music that is playing in his room, but as long as he stays in his room, I'm not going to worry about that. Once, though, while he was supposed to be laying down for a nap, Ryan was walking by his room and he was out of bed. Owen could hear Ryan coming down the hall so he quick ran back to his bed and looked at Ryan like, "What? I've been in my bed the whole time!" and then when Ryan walked away, Owen got back out of bed and shut his door! I thought that was pretty funny. He ended up falling asleep in his bed and took a great nap!

Monday night. I just can't stop myself from taking pictures of him sleeping! It's so cute!

And this was later that night! He doesn't remember sleeping on the floor. When he got up in the morning, he was back in bed. We didn't move him.

I asked him on Tuesday afternoon if he slept on the floor. He said, "At Ron's house?" (Ron and Tammy are our overnight babysitters in town, and he had gone to their house last Friday night and had slept on the floor in the living room.) I said, "No, at Mommy's house." He gave me a look like I was crazy and said, "NO!" I told him he did and showed him the picture. He didn't really know what to say!

This morning, Ryan told me he was on the floor again, and he ended up waking up on the floor. He got up before I did and came into my room and I asked him if he slept on the floor and he said, "Yeah." "Did you fall out of bed?" "Yeah." I don't know if that's actually what happens or not, because I never hear anything on the monitor, but somehow he ends up on the floor sometimes! Apparently it doesn't bother him, though!

I'm going to keep praying that the big boy bed thing keeps going as well as it has so far, so you can add that to your prayer list, too! Thanks! : )

Omaha Weekend

A few weekends ago, Owen got to go to Omaha to visit my brother, sister in law and their kids with Nana and Boppa. Ryan and I had some stuff going on at home, so we didn't go, but my family took lots of great pictures! They might not be in order - like I said, I wasn't there. I just picked some of my favorites.

Playing in the sandbox, waiting for his cousins to get home

Driving around

On the tank with Ian

Time to slide!

Aunt Colleen helping them seesaw!

SO much fun!

Candy Land with Ian and Nana

Dressing up the superhero

Snuggle time with Annaliese - so adorable!

Snuggle time with Boppa

Going for a ride!

Playing frisbee

Resting

I think this spins??

Boppa helping Owen and Annaliese seesaw

My little boy on Cloud 9 (I would be willing to bet, anyway) - trucks in the sand

Sand in the toes!

It looks like he had lots of fun! Hopefully we can all get back out there this summer and hit up the zoo and Children's museum again!