little boy in a big bed

Monkey Man has been sleeping with the sides off his cot for a while now, in his 'big boy bed'. It's been successful, we've only had to pop his sleepy body back into bed a couple of times and his sleep hasn't been impacted. As he's gotten older he's developed a habit of taking toys to bed - a different one nearly every night. It gets to a point where there is so many toys in his bed I don't know how he can sleep. We usually take alot of his toys out of his bed when we go and tuck him in on our way to bed. Some nights he wakes up in the middle of the night, most distressed because he can't find Buzz or Cookie Monster or Macca Pacca. I don't even think he's fully awake, but he can't find his toys so he gets quite upset until he can reach them again, and then he goes back to sleep.

So given he and his friends are quite comfortable with their sleeping arrangement and he's only going to get bigger, we decided it was time to move him to his actual big bed. The rather expensive furniture rack, also known as the King Single bed thats been sitting in our spare bedroom for over a year now.

We attempted to move him to his bed before Little Miss was born, in the hope of getting him out of the cot and freeing up a cot for the new baby. That was an epic fail and ten long nights of hell. Since then, I've been terrified of trying again, so scared that we would break him again and have him screaming for hours on end. But we've put it off for long enough, a year has passed and he's really not a baby anymore so its time to try.

On the weekend we moved his cot out and his bed in. We decided to leave his cot set up as a back up, just in case - I was feeling brave but not stupid. Anyway, Monkey Man and Missy Moo watched the whole process and both were SO excited, they were literally bouncing up and down! This didn't excite me too much as they were excited last time and well we know how that went. It was cute though to see them jump all over the bed once it was in place.

So its nearly been a week and so far, so good.... Monkey Man has successfully moved to his 'big BIG boy bed' and my heart pangs everytime I see my little boy in a big bed. He looks so small in such a big space, but he and his friends are ever so comfy and now have alot more room to spread out.

I suspect it won't be long before we move Missy Moo to her own big bed. Everyday when I take her for her day sleep, she points at Monkeys Man room and says 'brothers bed?'. . .  and the two of them bounce on it like mad every night while I run the bath. She's been sleeping with the sides off her cot for nearly 2 months now, only falling out once or twice. Ready or not, I'M not ready for her to be in a 'big BIG girl bed' just yet.

So many people have told me horror stories about their kids getting out of beds once they have the option. Telling me they find their kids roaming the halls in the middle of the night or how they have to take the kids back to bed over and over again. Well get this, both Monkey Man and Missy Moo are yet to figure this one out - they stay in bed, and yell for us when they're ready to get out of bed. They then get out themselves but I think its pretty cute how they wait for us. And I'm happy for it to stay that way for a while to come. So any of you with 'naughty' kids who get out of bed when they shouldn't please ensure they don't teach my children their bad habits hahahaha. I'm a big believer in kids comparing notes and teaching each other things, even before they can actually talk. There is definitely a baby conspiracy out there! Haven't you noticed when your kids are being feral, so are friends? When your baby is awake all hours of the night, so are friends? Its a conspiracy I tell ya, they get on facebook and message each other with strategies on how to drive us insane. I've totally seen my kids texting their friends, on my phone!


xx