It's sort of embarrassing to admit but up until last week....Van still slept in a crib;) Our plan was we would move him to a big boy bed either when he was forced out by a new baby or when he started to climb out making it unsafe for him to continue to be in the crib. We assumed one of those things would happen near his 2nd birthday. We assumed wrong. Our sweet boy is far too cautious to ever attempt to climb out! When he stands in the crib it practically comes to his waist so it's not a question of whether or not he can, it's whether or not he will. It finally reached a point where we knew we had to make the decision for him;) As he will proudly tell you, his third birthday is approaching all too quickly so we finally decided it was time. We were really nervous about messing with his sleep routine since he is such a great sleeper. As with all of the "big" transitions we've been scared of, our amazing boy proved to us just how lucky we are to be his parents. He did AWESOME!
The first night, we did the normal routine only in his new room with his new bed. He got out of bed once, opened the door just a crack and sweetly requested "mommy? I wanna rock for a second". Of course I obliged and held him and rocked him in the rocking chair for a minute. While we were rocking I talked to him about being brave and told him that if he wouldn't cry and would sleep all night in his big boy bed he would get a popsicle (yes we're awesome parents who bribe our child;). As I put him back in his bed he was whimpering a little bit but looked at me and said "I will be brave, I won't cry mommy!". Bless his heart, he didn't. He went right to sleep and slept all night! The next morning he popped out of bed and exclaimed "I did it! Now I get a popsicle!" and ran to the freezer;)
The first night, we did the normal routine only in his new room with his new bed. He got out of bed once, opened the door just a crack and sweetly requested "mommy? I wanna rock for a second". Of course I obliged and held him and rocked him in the rocking chair for a minute. While we were rocking I talked to him about being brave and told him that if he wouldn't cry and would sleep all night in his big boy bed he would get a popsicle (yes we're awesome parents who bribe our child;). As I put him back in his bed he was whimpering a little bit but looked at me and said "I will be brave, I won't cry mommy!". Bless his heart, he didn't. He went right to sleep and slept all night! The next morning he popped out of bed and exclaimed "I did it! Now I get a popsicle!" and ran to the freezer;)
Here is the big boy with his sweet prize after his first night in his big boy bed!
The first and only time he's had a treat before 8 in the morning;) In our defense it was a no sugar added, real fruit popsicle but still quite the treat for the little guy.
It's been over a week now and he has been doing great! He refused to take a nap one day but other than that he's basically slept just as well in his big boy bed as he did in his crib. To be fair he would occasionally refuse his nap in his crib too. Transition is a success! Yeah!!!
I asked him to pose in his bed one day...
Pretending to be asleep, so realistic;)
Maybe the secret to a successful transition is to wait until they are old enough to be bribed;)
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