The Big-Kid Bed

That whole big-kid bed thing? Exhausting. Let me tell you how our first night went.

It started out okay. I read to Milo like usual, then snuggled him like usual, then laid him down in his big enormous bed. He actually was pretty good about it. He laid down without a fuss and went to sleep like normal. I was a little emotional, and before I went to bed I peeked in on him, just to watch him sleep in such a huge bed for the first time. And all was well until about 4:00am, when I awoke to the sound of my frantic child screaming his damn head off.

He had fallen off the bed and wedged himself, head down, between the mattress and the dresser. He was stuck and couldn't right himself. It was all pretty much over after that. Even after being rescued, pacified, and diaper-freshened, he couldn't calm down. I went in and sat with him and tried to convince him to lay back down and go to sleep. He either wanted to jump on the bed or flip out and cry. After ten minutes of this, I did get him to lay down, so I quickly made my exit. But half an hour later, he was awake (again or still, I'm not sure). Upset again, it looked like he needed a little extra comfort. And since it was his first night without the crib, I indulged him and sat down next to him.

For awhile, he refused to lay down and calm down. He just kept sitting up, staring off into the ceiling and saying "ghost! ghost!" in a worried voice. I gotta say, he was kind of freaking me out with the ghost thing. And he was not seeming tired at all. After awhile, I was ready to give up. I figured maybe if I wasn't there, he would have no one to entertain or be entertained by and might lay down and go to sleep. I told him that it wasn't time to wake up yet, so Mommy was going to go back to bed and he could lay down when he was ready.

He freaked out, saying "No, Mommy!" and flung himself on top of me. So I hugged him and rubbed his back, and literally 30 seconds later he was out, snoring in my ear. I held him like that for about five minutes, but he was sort of on my throat and I had to move him. I shifted him over so he was laying on the bed, which of course woke him up and we were back to freaked-out Milo. I pulled him back toward me and snuggled him close, and again he fell asleep immediately. So this is it, I thought. I'm here for the rest of the night. I had his teeny blanket over my feet and an even teenier blanket sort of over my shoulder, but I was freezing. Milo got about another hour, maybe hour and a half, of sleep, but I pretty much barely dozed. 

I have to say, though, I enjoyed cuddling with Milo like that. He hasn't actually fallen asleep on me since he was much, much younger. It felt good to be the only thing that would comfort him.

And of course in the morning we praised him for being such a big boy and told him how proud we were that he slept in his big-kid bed. We're hoping the positive reinforcement will go a long way. Night 2 was tougher, he didn't want to lay down at all, then woke up way too early and couldn't go back to sleep. And naptimes have been...short. Tonight is night 3, and he laid down without a fuss. Crossing my fingers that he sleeps straight through the night without incident. We're all way too tired for the 4am wake-up call.