BIG Big Boy Bed

Thursday night we made the jump from Toddler Bed to Big Boy Bed. And by "big boy bed" I mean a giant for a 2 year old Queen size bed. (We're rolling with the bed we got.) This was prompted because for the past several weeks, Henry has enjoyed climbing into his big boy bed and our bed, pulling the covers up to his chin, closing his eyes, and announcing, "Night Night". We took the bed off of the frame and so the box spring and mattress are simply sitting on the floor.

Night time is easy. He stays in bed with relative ease, until I hear him knocking on his door around 7:30 in the morning, saying, "Knock, knock, knock. Mommy. Knock, knock, knock." Naps, however, are proving to be a little more difficult. Most Moms have told me that naps went out the door when their littles were moved to their big kid beds. I refuse to give them up. As it stands now, in the naptime game, we are Henry 2, Nap 1. And it sounds like we may be headed for Henry 3, Nap 1. But I will not give up. Even if it means for the next couple of weeks I have to sit out his door for three hours every afternoon.

The grossest is that once while Henry was "napping" he took apart his diaper pail and began throwing around the diapers as if they were balls. Yucko. The diaper pail is now in the hall outside his room. Mainly he simply gets up and goes and gets books off his bookshelf or plays in his curtains. We will soon be getting him shorter curtains to remove this temptation. I do not know how to remove the temptation to bring books to bed, as it is something I struggle with as well. Besides, it is a queen size bed. I figure if he wants to sleep with thirty books he can. I intervene when I can hear that he is playing and try to give him grace when I can discern that he is simply getting up and going to the bookshelf. I wish I had one of those video monitors as I have sometimes gone into his room thinking he was playing, when really he was simply wrestling with Dog Dog and Hop Hop on his bed. Sloan finds those monitors creepy and a little big brother and has forbidden me from purchasing one. So if say, someone who owned one were to loan me one for awhile, I think that would totally be okay.

The bonus is that we have spent a lot of time in prayer. As in, we get to pray for forgiveness for getting out of bed and have been praying fervently for God to help him stay in bed and fall asleep quickly. I have also learned that my stern Mommy tone can make my son cry. All I have to do is say, "Henry. Bed. Now." and the tears and squeals begin. Oh well. Such is the life of a 2 year old.

Oh, I gotta go. I just heard pitter patter on the floor from upstairs. Time to go drop the hammer.