The Wild Rumpus: Look Ma! No crib!

I hope I don't jinx this by blogging about it but last night was Monkey McBean's third night in his big boy bed and he is doing just great!

It got kinda pathetic for awhile with his crib. It was Bennett's and then around the time Casey was a year we found out that the crib had been recalled due to it being a tad larger than a standard crib mattress. I did notice that the crib bumper always slid down below the mattress but it never caused a problem. So we kept it. (I know I'm a horrible mom.) Then the plastic guard fell off on the railing and he chewed the railing so much the wood was splintering so to make sure he wouldn't get a splinter we taped it with clear packaging duct tape all around the railing. I promise I am a good mom, I sound awful as I reread this.
THEN the railing completely broke off as we laid him down to sleep one night because Jeff leaned on it. So out came the zip ties. Yep. I said zip ties. Don't worry that only lasted a couple days. Then Jeff tried to screw the railing to the bed but that just didn't work. So we took the whole garsh darn railing off. But now there were screws sticking out of the sides and we just couldn't let him sleep in it like that, I draw the line at impalement. So our crib which was a 4 in one, crib to toddler bed to head board and foot board, (I guess maybe that's 3 in one) is now sitting out by our garbage all busted up waiting for collection day. It never got to grow up to a big kid bed.

I'll let you in on a little secret... I HATED that crib. It wasn't my first choice but it was the cheapest that looked good (I guess now we know why). Next time I'll listen to my gut. And not get a convertible bed, I think they kinda look funky anyway when they are turned into toddler beds.

I did feel a little sentimental as Jeff carried it out side in bits, remembering Jeff and I putting it together while I was big pregnant with Bennett. But even that wasn't fun.

So then we tried the pack n'play. No go. He crawled out of that in like 10 minutes! And opened his door, comes out with a huge smile on his face. Stinker.

So THEN, we moved Magooly's toddler bed into Casey's room. Oh boy, that was traumatic for Magooly. He had had a twin size bed in his room since the beginning of January and slept in it occasionally but he preferred his toddler bed. He cried so much when we moved it. But really he is getting too big for it.

Poor kid. I know exactly how he felt. All your things that you've come to love and are comfortable with eventually are given to your younger sibling. And you have to "buck up, your a big boy/girl now". I have had so much sympathy for him that he has been sleeping in our bed lately. (I know, this will be a hard habit to break).

I have to thank Heidi, the kid's sitter for a lot of the work in transitioning Beanie into a big kid bed. I guess for naps he sleeps on a mat just fine at her house. I think she reads to them until they fall asleep.

I remember seeing a few episodes of Nanny 911 (I think that's what it was called ) with Nanny Joe. She had the parents do the bed time routine and then turn the lights out and sit in the room away from the bed until the kids fell asleep. And if they got up the parents didn't say anything, just put them back in there bed. The kids would cry and scream and get right back up but if the parents were consistent and didn't talk or look at the child it would get easier every night and they wouldn't have to sit in there as long. I was not looking forward to this but I was determined. I remember some parents sitting in their kids rooms for hours! Which is why we didn't do it with Magooly, and it was a lot longer transition to a bed for him. But McBean just was awesome. He got up a couple times but I just laid him right back down and went and sat down by the door (it was open a crack so he could see I was still sitting there). Then he gave up, laid back down and went to sleep. It took 20 minutes. When he woke up in the middle of the night we would do the same thing, it wouldn't take nearly as long because he wasn't really awake and just wanted to go back to sleep. Last night I didn't even have to sit in there with him, just put him to bed, turn out the light and shut the door. He went right to sleep and he only woke up once last night and I didn't have to sit in there with him that time either! One thing that helped was he still goes to bed with a bottle. We'll work on weening him of that once he has this down.

He's grown so much in the past couple weeks! He's a big boy now! He say's "okay" if you ask him a yes or no question if his answer is yes.
His favorite word right now is "look", or "yook"
He understands more, like when we say commands (I sound like a dog trainer)
He says little sentences that are quiet and a little off but you can definitely understand what he is saying.
He still talks jibberish all the time, which I love, I think he really thinks he's saying stuff though.

Oh, last night I was trying to get Magooly to give me a hug before he went to bed and he was refusing (only because I was asking, a whole other post. He's really got this thing about not doing what you ask even if he really wants too.) , then Bean comes up and says "hug" and gives me a huge, cuddly hug.

It was really cute yesterday morning when Casey woke up, no one heard him. He just came out of his room and crawled in bed with us. He was so proud of himself too, had a huge smile on and laughing the whole time. He came over to me first (I was sleeping in my chair as usual) and I feel these cold tiny fingers pry my eye open. And then his cute toothy grin.
I love my job.