Daddy's Fish BowlA Clear View Of A Father's Family Experiences

Tre in his new bed

Not to long ago we were placed in an unfortunate situation regarding Tre’s sleeping arrangements.  We were notified that there had been a recall on his crib (click for recall information) and advised to stop allowing him to sleep in it immediately due to risk of suffocation, etc.  I remember being very angry, upset, and frustrated at the fact that my little boy was in harms way for 18 months and I was just now finding out.  At the same time, I was happy and grateful that I was at least informed and given the opportunity to do something to prevent anything bad from happening.  After being alerted of the recall, we found ourselves in a bit of a dilemma: Tre was close to outgrowing a crib, but not completely ready for a toddler bed.  I wasn’t thrilled about buying a new crib that would only be used for a few months and then having to buy a new bed as well.  Fefe suggested going straight to a toddler bed: that’s what we did, and that’s when the fun started.

I honestly didn’t think Tre was ready for a big boy bed, but Fefe had faith that he could handle it.  When I was a kid, I slept on a mattress (no box spring) on the FLOOR, for the majority of my childhood.  I didn’t mind, it was actually quite comfortable being able to literally roll out of bed.  But I always wanted a race car bed and never got one.  So naturally, since I relive my childhood through my kids, I would purchase nothing short of a super awesome race car bed for Tre.  It was going to take a few days for his bed to be delivered so that meant that my boy would suffer the same fate that I suffered as a child.  I wasn’t to happy about him sleeping with his mattress on the floor but hey, at least he was getting a super cool bed so all would be forgiven.

The first two days went really well, he was so tired from the day’s activities that he went straight to sleep.  While I was at work, Fefe said he even went to his room and got in his bed and took a nap.  He did what? By himself? Our son, are you sure?  This is the same kid that we used to have to do everything but strap him down in order for him to go to sleep.  So yeah, taking a nap without being told was a big deal.  But after those two days, things went downhill.  We’d hear him up stairs doing any and everything that he could because he finally realized that freedom was his.  His cell had been opened before his minimum mandatory sentence was up; and he was going to wreck havoc on the world.  He’d do things like lay on the floor and kick his door yelling Mooooommmmmyyyy, but when we would go check on him he would be hiding behind the curtains.  The first time, I kid you not, it was like a Scooby Doo cartoon.  I went in the room and had no idea where he was, and then I saw two little feet sticking out from underneath the curtains.  It put the biggest smile on my face, but I had to remain stern and tell him to get in the bed.

Things carried on like this for about a week, and then it started to return to normal.  He’d still run around, look out the window, and talk to his imaginary friends; but the duration was a lot shorter now.  After about 15 minutes, Tre would settle down and head off to bed.  Once this routine was pretty set, we decided that we would try to add one of his toys back into his room.  BIG MISTAKE!!! We put his Fisher-Price Go Baby Go Crawl and Cruise Musical Jungle
into his room and then we were back at square one.  He was up there playing with that toy for hours before going to bed.  We would find ourselves going up to his room 3-4 times to tell him to lie down.  One night, he must of caught on that “big brother” was watching him because he somehow managed to get the baby monitor off of his dresser.  He let out a devilish laugh and then pulled the plug, all we heard was static on our end, so I went to check it out.  When I got up to his room, he was hiding behind the curtain and the monitor was no where to be found.  He was trying his best to counteract our surveillance techniques.  I found the monitor underneath his covers and put him back in the bed.  I think he’s too young to know that the monitor is how we were checking on him, but something about that laugh makes me question it.

After a few weeks, things died down again and he was back on his routine.  It has been working pretty good ever since, with the occasional slip up here and there.  But for the most part, I’m happy that we moved him to a toddler bed early.  He loves it, and sometimes just lies down and makes race car noises until he falls asleep.  If you’re considering moving your child to a toddler bed soon, I say go for it, it’s well worth the trouble.  Here are the steps that we took, hope they help.

• Remove all items from the room, except the bed
• Ensure any necessary items, e.g. baby monitors are well out of reach and cords are not exposed
• Read books about switching to a big kid bed
• Show your child their new sleeping place well before bedtime
• If possible, ensure your child is extremely tired for their first night in the toddler bed
• Make sure you’re readily available if the move proves to be too scary
• If your child isn’t afraid of sleeping with the door closed, close it! This will make life much easier
• Be prepared for resistance and plan to stand firm
• Once a fairly reasonable routine is in place, introduce SAFE toys back into the room one at a time