Last week Daddy started to dismantle McGee's crib so that we could set up the "big boy bed". After removing just one side he realized it made the perfect toddler bed!
Now I must tell you, sad sap of a mommy that I am, that I needed to get photos of McGee's last night in his crib. He (and we) loved this crib. A gift from Grandma & Grandpa before McGee was born, this is where my baby has slept for the last three years (give or take the first couple of months when he slept in the bouncer or bassinet in our room and of course any sleepovers at the grandparents or trips). Here he is enjoying his crib for the last time as a true crib:
**Sidenote - See that blue/white/yellow striped jumble of fabric to the right of McGee in the top two photos? That would be his "blankie", sometimes called, "bucky", that he must have for sleep. He wasn't a pacifier kid, no stuffed animal attachments, but this blankie is necessary for him to sleep (or so he has convinced himself). At first he started showing some attachment to a WHITE blanket a friend had given at his birth with his name and birthdate embroidered. It was very soft but I was concerned about him daily using this all-white blanket and so when I was at Ross one day I saw this multi-colored blanket for only $4.99 and it felt similar to the white one. I thought it would be a great alternate for him, but it immediately became his favorite. Laundry day for "bucky" is not always fun, sometimes washing this rag of threads is a covert mission I perform, praying he won't see me sneaking it away. Timing it just right can also be a challenge to make sure it is clean and dry before nap or bedtime. Lately though he has been much better about having it washed, it may be that he is started to smell the stink it has due to his endless chewing on the corners. Yuck!
So back to my original post....the crib, less one side, did make the perfect toddler bed and he was very excited to sleep in his "big boy bed". He slept in it too for quite a few nights and didn't even fall out! The transition from crib to bed was not as difficult as I thought and he's even been napping sans diaper since he can get up and "go" when he needs to. Here's the deal though...as you may have noticed in the pictures, we have a perfectly wonderful twin size trundle bed I found on Craigslist broken down in pieces and leaning against the wall in McGee's room. It has been like this since Mother's Day!
This week McGee has been up at Grandma & Grandpa's (& Grammy & Papa's too - lucky boy!) for swim lessons and fun with his grandparents. He is such a blessed little boy to have both sets of grandparents alive (neither daddy or I ever did), not to mention retired, vibrant, active and LOVING being grandparents. Anyway you may get a post on this week later, but while he was away I convinced Daddy that it didn't make sense to have this twin trundle and mattress here and available and not use it, so Daddy finished dismantling ALL of the crib and put together the trundle daybed for McGee. McGee had already picked out a fun cars comforter we saw at Ross for his "big boy bed" (the real one, not the toddler version) and we have vintage Mickey Mouse and Star Wars sheets that were my brother's some 30+ years ago). Due to the larger bed we had to reconfigure the room a bit to fit everything in and we were hoping McGee would like the result.
We told McGee over the phone the last couple of days that he had another new "big boy bed" and he seemed excited, but really, what doesn't excite a 3 yr. old (besides brushing teeth, going to bed or eating brussel sprouts)? I just wasn't sure, what was he going to think about this big boy room? So tonight I brought him home from Grandpa & Grandma's and ran (okay not exactly ran, there was a potty break in there too) back to his room to make sure I captured his reaction as he entered his new room. Here are some pictures capturing it all:
Starting to warm up to it a bit
Definitely getting excited now
He was nice enough to let Miss Em test it out with him too
Time for night, night in his real big boy bed!
Here is also a little tour of his newly arranged room:
His little play corner
We kept the safari animal-themed nursery decorations up because 1) we like them and 2) they don't seem too babyish to me. They may not match super well with the car/truck bedding, but hey, we're not perfect that way and that's okay. Special note - the awesome animal paintings on the wall were all painted by my dad back in 1970 for my brother. Isn't that so cool? I was absolutely ecstatic that we were able to use them and that my parents kept them all. Who knows, they may grace the walls of McGee's room for MANY years because I won't be able to take them down. Also note the very cool orange chair that was my parents' in it's original '70s fabric. Love it!!
Now that the excitement of seeing his room is over, McGee was happy to check out his bin of stickers.
Cute! Glad he was excited about the transition :)
ReplyDeletedo you not have to put a rail on it? We too had both a toddler bed and twin bed for JOshua. THe twin bed is soooo high off the ground though, so we decided to get bedding for the toddler bed instead which he is doing pretty well in. I think tonight is night 5? Joshua changed rooms though too
ReplyDelete