Big Boy Bed

A big boy bed - a major event in a man's life.



We'll post some pictures shortly (eventually?), but we picked up a new bed for Carter from Ikea. Very cool. Once he's a little older we can flip it over and turn it into a bunk bed deal. And it has a tent top on it, covered in stars.



Carter loves the new bed, but still not convinced that he wants to stay in it all night. We had some really rough nights at first - he would get up every minute (literally) and try to escape from his room. We spent a couple hours per night sitting by his door telling him to go back to bed when he poked his little head out. And then we would get a little visitor at 2am, 4am, and then 5am was pretty much time to get up for the day.



Obviously, not working. So - after a particularly treacherous night on Wednesday, we decided things must change.



So we started putting up the gate in his doorway - put up a little boundary for him. Less of a game with Mom and Dad, more of an immovable force that even toddler charm can't deal with.



Night one - he was a little (lot) upset at first when the gate went up. Had to use 2, in fact, to prevent him from slipping over or under. Checked on him frequently, eventually he crashed (in his bed!). and he slept. All night. No little visitors. slept all through the night, which he really hasn't done in about a month. Which gave us a good solid 5 hours of sleep before Nolen needed attention, which hasn't happened in a while either.



Next day - nap time. Zero problems. Gate up, sleepy time. Bed time, same deal. came to check out the gate once, then went back to bed and chatted himself to sleep.



So - there you have it. It's true what they say. Toddlers just crave boundaries.



Now that Nolen is settling down into some good sleep habits, and Carter seems to be stabilized again, perhaps we can start thinking about getting in some baby sitters at night again. Get out for the evening with friends? Crazy idea.