We set up the big boy bed on the floor a few weeks ago, just to get Harry used to the idea. We figured he wouldn't really move to it for a few more months because he is a big lover of his crib. We were prepared for the move to be a big deal for him, but it turned out to be a much bigger deal for us. One recent night, Harry told us he wanted to sleep in his "big boy bed," catching Rob and I totally offguard. We stared wide-eyed at each other wondering what we should do. We went with it, and little Harry climbed into his "big boy bed" and went to sleep, just like that. No drama -- except for that on the other side of the door, where his parents desperately wished for a video setup to see what he was doing. Rob caved after 20 minutes and had to go in to make sure Harry hadn't rolled off the bed and hurt himself in the 6-inch fall from the mattress to the floor. Harry was still in bed and looked at him like "Dad, I'm trying to sleep." I checked on him approximately once an hour until the morning. We were much better by the next night.
But then....on night 2, Harry discovered the freedom that comes with the big boy bed and when we put him to bed that night, he escaped no fewer than 9 times. Each time he'd run out with this mischevious grin on his face and look at us challenging: "AHA! What are you going to do about this? I'm free!" So we spent about half an hour marching him back to his bed that night. The next night, there were only about 4 escapes, and they decreased each night. The past few days, he's gone right to sleep (except for the one night he snuck his harmonica into bed and played it over the monitor for us). He didn't seem to notice when we moved the crib into the nursery yesterday, but we'll see if he changes his mind when there's a new inhabitant in it!
I'm free!
