It's In! Joey's Big Boy Bed

Many-a-blog-post later, I've finally set up Joey's toddler bed.  He's still pretty excited about it, and still checks to make sure it's still there several times a day.

I'm proud to say that I managed to put the bed together mostly by myself.  I did have to call in some help when I managed to crack one of the cross bars.  How was I supposed to know that there were different sizes of bolts??? They all looked the same to me.

Luckily, this little mishap doesn't affect the functionality of Joey's new sleeping arrangement.  We put some wood glue on it and a little duct tape, and voila! good as new.

Once Ron took apart his crib, we moved the bed in, set it up with his mattress and special train quilt from his great-grandma.  Isn't it adorable???

He made sure to move every blankie and binkie that he could find onto his bed, and sleeps in a big heap of shiny edged pink, purple, green, and blue blankies.

Getting Joey to go to bed has been surprisingly easy.  We do the usual routine of books, hugs, kisses, and covering up.  He knows when I leave the room it's over, there is no sense in calling for me to come back, and he's been really good about going to sleep.  It's getting him to stay asleep past 6am that has been a challenge.  And his naps have been annoyingly short.  He is getting significantly less sleep than he was say, a month ago, and it is really affecting his mood.  And mine.

As far as being comfortable in his new bed, I'm not so sure.  As excited as he is, three times when I went in to check on him this is how I found him:

Not sure what this is about.  Why did we bother to spend money on a bed when the child prefers to sleep on the floor?  I know he's not falling out because he takes his binkies and blankies with him.  I have a feeling he's just testing his new found freedom.  Like, "I'm going to sleep on the floor because I can if I want to."  I wonder how many more nights I'm going to find him like this.  Maybe it will save us money in the long run because we won't ever have to buy him another bed.  Imagine that several years from now.  My teenage son has a toddler bed in his room and sleeps on the floor next to it.  Now that will be a good blog post.