The boys needed to switch to toddler beds. They were starting to climb on to the crib rail and sit on it. We were rapidly closing in on them hurting themselves, or escaping their room and doing who knows what in the house in the middle of the night.
Our first effort for toddler bed transition did not go well. That was described in the previous post when we took off the front of the crib. I figured they were used to using their crib as a trampoline, so no amount of effort was ever going to work in making that a bed they don't play in.
That started our search for toddler beds. I liked the nice wood ones, but Cody wanted a fun plastic bed. He thought the boys might choose to hang out in an interesting bed. I picked a Spongebob Squarepants bed for each of the boys. After I ordered them, Cody flipped out because apparently yellow is a girl color and Spongebob is the worst thing in the entire universe. After the most ridiculous argument in the world, I cancelled the yellow girl beds, and ordered Cars beds. Our boys don't care about that movie, so I don't see how it is better... but whatever. Cars it is. (They don't really care for cars in general. They like heavy machinery and big trucks. We spend a lot of time watching construction videos on the internet. I've tried to get them to watch monster trucks, but noooooo.)
When we went to visit Cody's parents in March, the boys slept in those cots. We used that as our transition opportunity. The night we got home from the farm was the last night in their cribs. On Monday, I put the new beds together. It took way longer than necessary because the boys would not stop jumping on the bed at every stage of the process. Here is our finished product. We decided not to put the stickers on because the boys don't care about Cars and they look good plain.
Alex in the light colored shirt with my screwdriver and Ben in the dark shirt
Here is their room with the beds before they slept in them.
The rest of this post is just pictures of them sleeping in weird ways over the last month. I go in and check on them on my way to bed every night. I adjust them/their blankets if necessary. If you are not a parent or maaayyyybeee grandparent, this will probably be stupid. Anyway, here we go!
Their first night. They ran around their room for 15 or 20 minutes, but eventually crashed. They slept in the bed that was in the position of their old crib. This is Ben (and where his crib used to be). Not that exciting, but his arm is up in the arm in a weird way.
Alex in perfect angel position. This was the ONLY time Alex was in a perfect angel position since.
The next night Ben decided to fall asleep on the floor.
One thing I've discovered is that Alex likes to sleep with a pillow on top of him. Occasionally when I go to check on them, I find that he has stuffed his legs in to the pillow case.
You will also notice that the bed is turned around. They went crazy during nap time and spun the bed around.
Alex
Ben. This one is notable because Cody sleeps like this with one knee bent in the air.
Alex. This one is my favorite.
Looks like they spent a lot of time tearing up their room this day. Alex maybe? At some point, they stopped always sleeping in their specific bed. Now they sleep where they crash. Alex always falls asleep in a bed, but which bed is a toss up. Ben occasionally sleeps on the floor or either bed.
Alex. He curled up with both music/light devices. I brought the devices out to add more light to their room.
Alex
Ben pushed his bed away from the wall.
At the bottom of the picture, you can see the pvc pipe hammer they created to hit things. They eventually used it to pop off the child proof cover on their door knob. Little monsters.
wrong way, buddy. This might be Ben. We've only had 3 baby falling out of bed episodes. 2 happened to Alex when he was sick. The 3rd was also Alex, but he wasn't sick. He doesn't actually fall out. He lays his head too close to the edge. He is so top heavy that eventually his head weight pulls him over the edge, and he slowly slides off the bed head first. I know this because I watched it one time.
Ben is my calmer sleeping baby. I usually count on him to have his head on a pillow and be curled up the right way with blankets. He does occasionally fall asleep on the floor though. One night I went in to check on them as usual, and I could not get the door open. I could see little toes right by the opening of the door. He fell asleep curled up with his blankets against the door. Poor boy. I had to push him out of the way using the door and carry him to bed. That was actually the night I saw Alex slide out of bed. They are very easy to deal with at night. They let me put them in bed, turn them around, whatever, with no fuss.
Ben. If they still have binkies when I check on them, I take them out now. We're working on it!
Another room disaster day. Ben maybe? See the workbench by the wall? That is under their window. Before they go to sleep, they like to stand on the workbench and look out the window. They do it enough that neighbors have noticed. Now, they push the workbench over to the head of Ben's bed and use it to jump on his bed.
Alex. I put a pillow on the floor by his head in case he fell off. He didn't. That time.
Alex
Alex on the bed Ben on the floor. Their room generally starts pretty picked up when we put them down. It is interesting to go in and see how much they destroyed the place before they go down.
Alex
Ben
Alex on the bed and Ben on the floor. Again.
Alex
I realize this was more Alex than Ben. Most of the nights I take pics of Ben look like his picture 3 up. Just a blanket with a head sticking out. Other than when he sleeps on the floor, he is pretty calm.
It has definitely been an interesting experience. They handled it pretty well. They nap less often. Sometimes they just run around their room in the dark for an hour, but whatever I guess. They like their beds and don't miss the cribs. We have the cover over their door knob, so they can't get out. I wrote in the previous post about how they learned to pop them off, but they don't usually do that. We have 0 babies in cribs now. Sad.
Boys -1, Parent/Beds- 1.
