Bed to Crib Update

We made the change back to the crib yesterday as previous discussed. At first, the little guy asked where his big boy bed went but we told him this was his crib and he would be sleeping in that for awhile.

After a shower, teeth brushing (if you are having trouble getting your little person to brush get an electric brush - my GF who is hygienist sent me one about 6 months ago. I put it away because I did not think he was ready for it but he and I were rooting around in the bathroom cupboard and he found it. SO I took it out and he ACTUALLY wants to brush now rather then just sucking the minty paste off the brush and playing in the water!) and some books and songs, we put him in his crib.

He was quiet for a bit. Then he started yelling my name. I went in there after a while and, of course, he had thrown everything out. I put it all back and we said good night again. This happened again and Kevin did the same thing. He started crying and was pretty mad after the second time and Kevin went in to calm him. He asked to have his diaper changed and wanted to sleep on the floor but Kevin put him back in the crib. He was sobbed loudly for about five minutes and then off to dream land. He did wake up crying once last night at 4 something and Kevin and I took turns soothing him back to sleep but that probably took about 20 minutes versus the hour it had become.

He still did not actually go to sleep until about 9:40p or so but it was much easier on us to have him in his crib yelling and crying then have him popping in and out of the door every sixty seconds. He seemed more rested this morning then he has on other mornings more recently AND he was actually in a decent mood rather then a grouch from a lack of sleep.

I asked Kevin last night half jokingly how we ended up with the child who does not sleep when both of us like to sleep SO much. It has been sort of bummer but it is interesting to talk to moms with two kids because most of them have told me that the first was a dream and the second was totally different (or vice versa.) The most recent person to tell us this: we ran into an old friend from Kevin's previous job, Amanda, at the Farmer's Market last Saturday. Amanda has two: Quinn who is almost three and Zachary who is 13 months. She said compared to Quinn, Zachary is a hand full - he is into everything, a total dare devil, he won't sleep and does not sleep well, etc... Here's hoping if we decide to have second baby that child LOVES to sleep because lord knows by that time, I will need that (plus one of the things holding me back from considering a second babe is nursing - all day and night on and on and on into infinity....)

On a side note (and completely off topic), this story caught my eye. Who had a clue that whales this long and what a shame that someone killed it to find this object but it is still really amazing!

Backward Steps...

Last night, Kevin and I decided after two weeks of night time hellishness that we are going back to the crib for Matthew. He is just not ready for a big boy bed. He is taking ALARMING advantage of us. No matter what we do or say - he continues to stay up until 10p and past... And when I say "stay up", I do not mean that he just sits in his room and plays but he comes out of his room and thinks it is hysterical to run down the hall as we are coming to put him back in bed. Damn him for learning to turn those door handles - oh just wait if your little one cannot do that yet, ack the joys of closing a door and knowing it will stay shut like say while you are trying to quietly go poo by yourself... those have been long gone for us (like six months gone...) Plus we have both sang the same three bed time songs 593250803285 times (is that even a number? Either way, I am SO tired of singing those songs.) We are - plain and simple - exhausted.

I love spending time with my son but darn it I want him to go to bed at 8:00p like he used to. I think most of this jumping up and down out of the bed all evening long has to do with new found freedom that he is just not ready for and really we have no good reason to switch beds. It is not like we are expecting another child any time soon and even if we were I would not care because he would be staying with that bed. They say kiddos are really not ready to make this switch until they are 2-1/2 and closer to three and I am totally okay with that. I mean really what is the rush? ...Because EVERYONE is doing it and they sound like they are doing it successfully (unless that is not the truth :)!) I know what some of you may be thinking - give it more of a chance. Last week he was sicker then a dog but really our conclusion is this - being sick was an excuse and if we keep making excuses we are just going to continue to build this really bad habit and I so cannot imagine doing this for the next five years... Of course, suggestions are welcome. If you all know something I do not, PLEASE OH PLEASE I am begging you from deep down in my heart - do share!

I personally feel like there have been a lot of big changes in Matthew's life recently what with the whole learning about the potty more aggressively, both the changes at his current day care and changing his day care (coming up) and the move (which is sort of old by now but he will still pop off with a "new house" now and again - though as an aside we were driving up to the house last evening and he said "there my house, that my house" and me brimming with pride.) I guess I think it best to just take a step back and sort out all of the other things before moving him from his crib to the big boy bed. Basically, as hard as it might be to say from any parent, he is just too young and is simply not ready for this and we have plenty of time to do everything before we even consider having another babe and shaking up his world even MORE!

I must say I am always impressed with the energy kids this age possess. He has the energy of a ten, okay maybe twenty, adults and he would stay up all night if he could. Last night he even got of bed at 2:00a and walked into our room... I thought I was going to cry because he was not sick or scared - he just woke up and could walk over to our door AND open it. Then he would not go back to sleep and made Kevin sing the SAME THREE SONGS OVER AND OVER AGAIN whilst I laid there wide awake listening to the SAME THREE SONGS OVER AND OVER AGAIN. You get the picture...

SO at lunch time today, the big boy bed will be no more. Sad but true - I am sure it will be back in no time at all but for now I want to be in control of this one thing so we can get him back on schedule and perhaps have his little mind advance a little further along to where he gets that when mommy and daddy say 'time for bed' - he will get what that means in a loud and clear way with all of the drama that has been issuing forth from our house the past two weeks.