Caden's Big Boy Bed

A few months ago, Caroline was upgraded to a big girl bed. Since then, we've had numerous conversations with Caden where he has said something on the lines of, "Caroline has a big girl bed. Caden is a big boy. I want a big boy bed."

Despite the fact that Caroline was ready for the big bed while Caden was not, Amy pleaded with me to convert Caden's crib to a big boy bed. I reluctantly agreed and we surprised Caden with his new bed. As an added bonus, Grandma made Caden a guitar pillow case that was part of the surprise.

Here is the moment when Caden first walked in.

 

Caden was excited about his new bed. 

 

Here is his checking out his new pillow case.

 Caroline also thought the pillow case was neat.

 Caden and Caroline decided to try the bed.

After the excitement of a new bed died down, I worried about what the future had in store for "us" because I was sure there was no way Caden was going to stay in the bed all night. (And by "us", I meant Amy because she is the one that wanted to release Caden from his crib.)

When night finally came, Caden would not stay in his bed or room. When we walked out the door after his tuck-n was over, Caden followed us right out. He eventually went to sleep with Amy laying on the floor next to him.

Later that night, while Amy and I were sleeping, Caden came and climbed in bed with us. We took him back to bed, and Amy went and laid by him until they both fell asleep.

This happened the first two nights. Caden realized if he came and climbed in bed with us, he would be taken back to bed. So when Caden got out of bed on the third night, he decided to play in the playroom instead of waking us up...which I do consider an improvement. :)

For the next week or so, Caden was up playing every single morning when we got up. We had no idea how long he'd been awake. When asked what he had been doing, Caden would say he came to our room and watched us sleep (which is a little creepy) then, he'd go to the playroom to play.

Caden did okay for naps, but struggled to go to sleep without Amy laying down next to him, and he would never stay in bed all night. We tried the child safely locks for the door but even in the dark, Caden can take them off the door knob in under two seconds.

To keep Caden in his room, I decided to install a lock. Amy was against the idea but I did it anyway knowing she'd come around. :) Not only did I want to keep him in his room so he'd hopefully sleep better, I was also a little worried he'd leave the house in the middle of the night.

I replaced the door knob with one that can be locked and I put the side that locks it outside his room (with a key above the door just in case we get locked in). So now, we lock Caden in his room! This has worked very well. Caden has gotten used to the idea that he cannot get out. He still struggles to go to sleep but he started sleeping through the night again.

Long story short, while Caroline's easily transitioned to a big girl bed, Caden's transition was way more lively.