Big Boy Bed!
I always said I wouldn't get NB a big boy bed until he was at least four and his head and feet were squashed against either end of his cot! His insatiable curiosity for looking in, opening and messing with everything in sight made me fear immediate carnage would ensue as soon as he wasn't caged into his sleeping area.
But last night I relented. Mindful that NB is waiting for a forever family, and knowing that this family will not want to invest in a cot for a three-year-old, I decided to spare NB the double whammy of moving in to a strange house with a strange family, and acclimatising to a brand new bed experience all on the same day.
It has gone pretty much as I expected it would. I let NB help me build the bed and put the bedclothes on it, and engaged him in the excitement of the whole event, and then last night I put him down with exhortations to 'stay in bed' and 'no touching [a massive list of things]'.
When I went up to check on him as I went to bed, he was, no joke, lying on a massive pile of books which he had scattered all over the bed. The quilt was on the floor and instead, he was covered with sheets and pillow cases he had pulled out of the wardrobe. We tidied up and I put him back to bed with slightly more strongly-worded warnings about staying in bed and not messing with everything.
This morning I was woken by a loud crashing noise and rushed into his room to find absolute carnage! The books were everywhere again, as were the sheets and pillow cases. In addition, he had managed to open the massive storage cupboard and dragged out and opened several large boxes of things. There was stuff, literally, everywhere, including pieces from various games scattered around the floor.
We tidied up. I tried to use my calm voice, but there's a distinct possibility that I failed!
Afternoon nap time came, and we tried again. NB went down in his bed no problem (after the explicit warnings!) and then I went to put OB down, which took a maximum of three minutes. Then I went straight back to NB's room to find him out of bed and dragging a load of clothes out of his chest of drawers.
This time I gave up, and put him in his cot!
All was quiet for about an hour, when the crashing noises began again. I went up to his room to find that he had climbed out of his newly-repositioned cot (using the new bed as a midway stepping point) and once more had strewn the floor with items from every cupboard.
"Don't you want to sleep in a big boy bed like [your friend]?" I asked, exasperated.
"No!" he replied.
Ideally I would simply remove everything from his room, leaving only the bed, but that just isn't possible. NB has the second bedroom in the house, which unfortunately also has to bear the brunt of some of the storage as OB's room is too small, and my room is already full!
It looks like we're all embarking on a steep learning curve! But we cracked the ubiquitous juice bottle, the toilet training and the fixation with eating non-food items, so I'm sure we'll find a way through this one as well!
But last night I relented. Mindful that NB is waiting for a forever family, and knowing that this family will not want to invest in a cot for a three-year-old, I decided to spare NB the double whammy of moving in to a strange house with a strange family, and acclimatising to a brand new bed experience all on the same day.
It has gone pretty much as I expected it would. I let NB help me build the bed and put the bedclothes on it, and engaged him in the excitement of the whole event, and then last night I put him down with exhortations to 'stay in bed' and 'no touching [a massive list of things]'.
When I went up to check on him as I went to bed, he was, no joke, lying on a massive pile of books which he had scattered all over the bed. The quilt was on the floor and instead, he was covered with sheets and pillow cases he had pulled out of the wardrobe. We tidied up and I put him back to bed with slightly more strongly-worded warnings about staying in bed and not messing with everything.
This morning I was woken by a loud crashing noise and rushed into his room to find absolute carnage! The books were everywhere again, as were the sheets and pillow cases. In addition, he had managed to open the massive storage cupboard and dragged out and opened several large boxes of things. There was stuff, literally, everywhere, including pieces from various games scattered around the floor.
We tidied up. I tried to use my calm voice, but there's a distinct possibility that I failed!
Afternoon nap time came, and we tried again. NB went down in his bed no problem (after the explicit warnings!) and then I went to put OB down, which took a maximum of three minutes. Then I went straight back to NB's room to find him out of bed and dragging a load of clothes out of his chest of drawers.
This time I gave up, and put him in his cot!
All was quiet for about an hour, when the crashing noises began again. I went up to his room to find that he had climbed out of his newly-repositioned cot (using the new bed as a midway stepping point) and once more had strewn the floor with items from every cupboard.
"Don't you want to sleep in a big boy bed like [your friend]?" I asked, exasperated.
"No!" he replied.
Ideally I would simply remove everything from his room, leaving only the bed, but that just isn't possible. NB has the second bedroom in the house, which unfortunately also has to bear the brunt of some of the storage as OB's room is too small, and my room is already full!
It looks like we're all embarking on a steep learning curve! But we cracked the ubiquitous juice bottle, the toilet training and the fixation with eating non-food items, so I'm sure we'll find a way through this one as well!
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