Big boy, big bed!

A few weeks ago I put Eli in his crib for a few minutes while I was tidying up his room. I was walking in and out of his bedroom and his bathroom when I caught him hiking his leg up over the side. I couldn't (and could) believe it! He had never made an attempt up until this point. I firmly told him no and put his leg back down and took him out right away. I didn't want that thought to stay in his head for long :) I put him back in a few minutes later to do one more thing and he did it again! Oh boy, this was way earlier than I had anticipated making the change to the toddler bed. But with everything I've read and considering how tall he is already, they say as soon as they make the effort to get out--it's time to get them out of the crib. I'd rather deal with the hassles that come along with transitioning to a big boy bed than deal with broken bones or worse.

This gave me something to consider on our recent trip to Arizona. While we were there, Eli and I slept on a cushy, comfy, feather bed on the floor. He didn't do to well in the pack and play last time and there is no way he can sleep in bed with me cause he rolls and kicks and turns. So we decided to make up a bed on the floor. During our stay in AZ, Eli loved laying on this bed. He would lay on it in the middle of the day, I think he liked the material it was made of. Well, he loved laying on it so much, he no longer wanted me to rock him to sleep at night. He wanted to lay on the bed and toss and turn til he passed out. It seemed like a step in the right direction. Not that I even minded rocking him to sleep, actually I already miss it.

With all this new found freedom of an open bed and falling to sleep out of my arms, I thought maybe it was really time to move to the big boy bed. Why take a step backward? Go home and back to the crib and rocking? Probably wouldn't work out too well. And maybe he'll be more accepting of it now while he's younger.

He was actually waking up in a more pleasant mood from his naps than he did at home. As soon as he would wake up, he would walk right out of the room and come and greet me and Grandma. He loved it, like he was so proud of himself.

So the day we got home from Arizona, I decided the crib rail was coming down. Eli was really excited to get in his bed all on his own. The first evening went pretty well. We did are same routine as we normally do: bath, brush teeth, jammies, stories and then songs or talking about our day. On average, it's taking him about 40 minutes to fall asleep each night. I definitely hope this time gets shorter, but it's a work in progress. I sit by his bedside and rub his back until he falls asleep.

He has been walking out of the room when he wakes up. Which is okay for his naps, but at night I'm afraid he's going to get scared in the dark. I still have the monitor on at night so I can hear when he opens the door and heads out into the living room. It's actually really cute right now, but I'm sure it might get old soon. The way I look at it is, if he was still in the crib, he would just be crying for me so now he meets me halfway!

It's kind of exciting moving him to the big bed, he's getting so big!