Toddler Fun: Moving to a Big Boy Bed

It seems like just yesterday that I told you all how we decided to move Jack from his crib to his toddler bed last June.  After stressing about the change, it turned out to be totally uneventful with Jack happily making the switch.

It was totally fine for months too, until a few weeks ago. For some reason Jack started going through some hard-core separation anxiety from me and getting him to go to bed suddenly became a 2 hour long event.

TWO HOURS to get the kiddo to go to sleep!

My kiddo. The very same kid who would fall asleep within a couple minutes of his head hitting his mini pillow. Even worse, Jack suddenly started waking up in the middle of the night because he needed me.

So at 3 in the morning, I’d climb into his converted crib toddler bed and snuggle up with him. I’m a full-grown 5’7” tall woman, but I’d fold myself like origami to get into that little bed with him. It was ridiculous. And uncomfortable.

I broke down right around Christmas and dragged his mattress into the master bedroom next to my side of the bed. Sure enough, the little turdburgler happily went to sleep each night and proudly told everyone for days that he sleeps on the floor of momma’s room.

Yup. Like a dog.
Except the dog actually sleeps IN BED with us.

I realized that unless I impressed Jack with something awesome he was probably going to sleep on the floor next to our bed until he turns 16. I mean, we don’t want any more kids… but a LITTLE privacy would be nice…

So I decided it was time to upgrade to a twin-sized bed.

I found a great deal on Craigslist for an almost brand new twin bed and mattress set. The nice lady had bought two of them for her guest room (for when the grandkids came over) but they were never used and now she was downsizing to a smaller place.

She was so nice. Too bad we had to stink up her place. Sigh.

Anyways, we picked up the new bed and brought it home. Jack was SUPER excited. I mean, we were already telling him what a big boy he was with his potty training, but now he had an ACTUAL Big Boy Bed too?!

Oh yeah, did I not mention that? I look back at my last post where I said “Our pediatrician suggested we make the switch a couple months before potty training so that it wasn’t too much change at once” and laugh because we literally started potty training the SAME DAY we put him in his new bed… {and yes, I know I owe you a potty training post but I’m waiting to see if it sticks first}

Anywhoo. We brought the bed home, threw on some new sheets from Target and never looked back. I was hoping that the combination of being a Big Boy, some sheets in Jack’s favorite color (yellow) and the fact that I could just hop in there to sleep if needed would make the change go a little easier.

For now, I still have his toddler-sized comforter on the bed but I really want to upgrade to the twin version of the same design. It’s from Land of Nod and I’m just waiting for a sale before I jump on buying the grey stripe duvet cover and all season comforter. If you hear of any bedding sales or promotions, let me know!

So, aside from the cuteness of the new bed… it has actually been better for Jack. I mean, he sleeps in his own room now, so that’s pretty great. He has still been fighting bedtime each night, but the fights have gotten shorter and shorter. Somehow we arrived to a routine of him getting in bed, me sitting in his rocking chair with the lights off reading my kindle for a bit, and then me leaving to sit in the hallway to read a bit longer. After 10 minutes or so in the hallway I sneak downstairs to watch TV. It’s still a drawn-out process, but at least I get to do some reading.

I’m proud of Jack for making the switch into his new bed smoothly, but OH MY GOD do I want him to go back to his normal sleeping patterns as soon as possible. Like, yesterday. Or three days ago.

Since he started sleeping in his twin bed, Jack has gone back to sleeping through the night most of the time. However, last night he had me up from 1:30 – 2:00 and then again at 4:30. When my alarm went off at 5:30, I pretty much wanted to smash it with a hammer.

Do you have any advice on how to get my almost-three year old to go back to being an awesome sleeper? Have you ever bought a bed off Craigslist and then had to clean up an exploding poop in their driveway? No, just me then… huh.