Big Kid Beds

Riley has been asking about moving up to her big kid bed for a while now. This week I finally got my dad's old twin bed painted to match the woodwork in her room. She was so thrilled to join the ranks of kids who sleep more than twelve inches off the floor that she started asking to go to bed at around 5:00 her first night. I was a little apprehensive. I never thought of a twin bed as being that big, but with my little girl in it, it seemed to be six feet tall. I actually piled a few pillows on the floor just in case she rolled out, but she did just fine. The next day she happily announced to anyone who would listen that she slept in a "big boy bed." We tried to tell her that it was a big GIRL bed but she would have none of it. I'm guessing that because her buddy Ethan sleeps in a big boy bed, and it's the same size as hers, she must therefore have a big boy bed.I took Riley's toddler bed out of her room and put it in Colin's because there's more room in there and he's going to use it eventually. He took one look at it and assumed it was his to use now. Jeff and I have talked before about Colin moving out of the crib. We'd joked that we'd keep him in his crib until he was twelve because he'd never stay in a bed. When I took him upstairs for his afternoon nap, he ran to his toddler bed and made snoring noises. I thought, what the heck, why not give him a chance. I put him down in the toddler bed and gave him a little talk. It went something like, "Big boys stay in their big boy beds. Boys who get out of their beds have to go back to their baby beds. You don't want to sleep in a baby bed do you? No. You're a big boy." He looked at me very intently through this lecture, pointed at the crib and said very seriously, "Baby bed noooo." He stayed in his bed the whole time. We decided to try it that night again after repeating the little pep talk, and once again he stayed glued to the bed. It's been four nights, and he's still in the toddler bed. I'm pretty proud of him. I'm also pretty relieved because his crib has just been recalled. 

My little babies are growing up - sniff, sniff.