Since he was 1 years old, Marshall has slept through the night. He used to play and chatter in his crib for a while, content, until he was tired, and then he'd go to sleep. He never woke up at night for a bottle or fussed at all. He'd sleep a solid 12 hours every night. In the morning, he'd wake up and he wouldn't whine. I kept some books and a few simple toys in the crib, and he would just play and read fairly quietly until i dragged my butt of bed to take him out.
We have thought about moving him into a real bed a lot over the past 2 years, but why change a good thing? He did start to climb out of his bed around 2 years old, but we told him no and for whatever reason, he listened and didn't try to climb out anymore. The past year or so, Marshall has taken to having many things in his bed. He will try to lift anything into it that he possibly can... on top of all of the things that he requires to STAY in his bed in his own special order. I gave him a pillow about six months ago as well to start to get him used to sleeping in proper form as some day, he would be sleeping in a real bed. His crib looked ridiculous. lol. He would hardly ever sleep with the pillow, and with all of this other toys and books in there, he barely had any room to sleep! Also, due to a phase he went through where bum-drops were a big hit, the plastic on the mattress was all broken so he was kinda sleeping in a hole... as if he was on a trampoline would be a better description! lol.
I was scared to move him into a real bed. You just never know with Marshall how changing things up will affect him. But then he started to climb out of his crib again... a lot. His rib cage was getting all bruised up from sliding down the rails, as well as his one leg. It was time. I didn't want to wait until he really hurt himself. My husband suggested we just take off the rail on the crib as an adjusting period, but i felt like that might be more confusing and he'd be upset. I really felt like a 'clean break' would be best and we would just deal with whatever came from that.
So yesterday i had my Mom watch the kiddies and my husband and I took apart the crib. Marshall and D share a room and currently, there was a set of bunkbeds and then the crib all in a pretty small space (2 dressers as well). ALL of the kids' toys have been living in our livingroom for years. So we bought a nice large area rug, took apart the crib, put up a safety guard on the top bunk for D, and moved all of the toys into the space where the crib was. It was great to create a play space with normal sleeping quarters! Then we went to pick up the kids.
Marshall seemed happy with the bedroom! I bought him a Toy Story pillow case and got his bottom bunk bed all set up with his things, and of course his favourite blanket. Then we started to get ready for bed. All day i was envisioning Super Nanny's methods of getting kids to stay and sleep in their beds. I figured it may very well be a long night and i was ready for it. D picked out a book and i tried to get both kids on M's bed so we could read. Marshall stood in the middle of the room facing the toys where his crib used to be. lol. He looked so confused and i guess it just dawned on him that his crib wasn't there anymore!
I showed M his new pillow and told him "bed, sleep" as i padded the bed. Then he climbed in and we read a book... well, he explored his bed while i read with D. I put away the book, D climbed to the top bunk, i turned off the lights, and said prayers and sang to both of them... all our usual bedtime routine. Then i left the room... and waited. Marshall talked for a bit... HE NEVER CAME OUT!! Even with all of the toys right across the room from him now. I was in shock... i'm still in shock! HE FELL ASLEEP.... and slept through the night. In the morning, he didn't come out of his bed until i came into the room. I didn't even have to establish rules at all for coming out of his bed! Crazy. This was too easy... I am not complaining - i'll take it!!!! God knows we have so many other daily challenges with Marshall, and i am just happy that sleeping and the adjustment of a new bed is not one of them!
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