Big Boy Bed - July 4th

Todd & I have gone BACK & FORTH on when to transition Anders to his big bed.  After hearing Beth & I discuss that he had not climbed out of the crib yet, the next morning I opened his door to find Anders standing there with a proud look on his face.  I busted out laughing & figured he would start climbing out all the time, but he didn't.  So the debate began again...Should we wait until the baby girl really needs the crib (4-5 months old), make the change before the baby arrives so he doesn't have to adjust to both new baby & new bed, wait until he climbs out of it all the time & risks falling out???    On July 4th we decided last minute (right around Anders' bedtime) to take down the crib and drag in the double-bed mattress.  Yes, we choose a night that was filled with fireworks booming & banging!  But we finally decided that it would be better to make this change while we had the time to help Anders adjust and could take the time to lay in bed with him until he fell asleep.  I feared that he would decide at about week 1 or 2 of having a newborn to start climbing out of his bed like crazy...didn't want to juggle a newborn and getting Anders switched to big bed.  He didn't mind at all that the crib disappeared and his new bed with cool bedding got set up.  He was so excited about the cars, helicopters, bikes & trains on his bedding.  You could tell that he felt special getting to sleep in this new bed.  It took him a few days to figure out that he could easily climb out of the bed, open his door, and come downstairs to get me.  The first time it happened caused Bella to bark like CRAZY at my bedroom door -- I knew that there was someone on the other side, but didn't expect Anders until I heard "Mama?".  Since then, we've had many nights of getting Anders back in bed during the early morning hours, and he definitely wakes up much earlier.  But my mom is SUPER-Grammie & has taken most shifts of getting him back to sleep and ALWAYS wakes up with him in the morning...letting me sleep a little longer.  I think we have a little longer in this process of adjusting to the new bed, but am glad we went ahead and did it.  Anders is such a big boy and getting ready to be a GREAT big brother.      

 Deciding that he is going to like this -- big bed, pillows & blankets...

 Working it...