As we get ready to welcome another member to the Solomon-Strutz household we decided to transition Nicholas from the crib to a twin size bed. Jason and I both agreed to skip the toddler size bed since Nicholas is constantly growing and a twin bed purchase could presumably last until he is a teenager. So last week I went ahead an ordered a low to the ground twin bed with storage drawers. Luckily the bed frame arrived during the holiday weekend so we had time to assemble it right away. Of course, assembling the frame was quite a feat within itself because Nicholas wanted to help instead of take his regularly scheduled nap. Nothing like your toddler grabbing a hammer and exclaiming “I’ll fix it, I’ll help fix the bed.” Eventually Jason got frustrated and Nicholas was banned from the area until the project was completed.

After Nicholas woke up from his nap he saw the new bed frame and appeared impressed enough to climb up on it and start playing with his toys. So far so good… until he found his crayons in the storage drawers! Of course a few minutes later when I returned Nicholas had decided to display his artistic talent on the bed frame. I was less than pleased and proceeded to wipe down the furniture and of course now the crayons are completely out of reach and can only be used when Mommy and Daddy are present to help him color in his coloring books.

Next step, purchase a mattress and bedding so that Nicholas could truly test out the bed. Luckily I had to run to Walmart and get some ice cream and stumbled upon the bedding section. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Walmart carried both twin and full size mattresses and that they can in compact boxes with wheels.

I was easily able to roll the box out the store and fit it in the back seat of CaJar w/ the car seat still in the car. I was ecstatic about this fact but a little concerned now about the quality of this mattress. On the brief drive home I wondered if I would have the blow this thing up or do anything special to get it to expand to full size. However, once the mattress was removed from the small box it expanded into a complete twin size mattress in less than a minute. Cool beans! Both Jason and I tested it out and it passed the comfort test with flying colors. So we quickly put on the bedding and in a couple of hours the true test would come.

Around 9:30pm I went to read Nicholas a bedtime story and tuck him in. However, this process continued much longer than normal. He loved being able to climb out the bed, grab a book from bookshelf and bring it back to the bed. 10pm had arrived and Nicholas and I had made it to our 8th or 9th book. Enough was enough I turned off the lights and put on his sleeping cd and then shut the door. Of course that didn’t work because Nicholas knows how to open his bedroom door. So in a matter of 30 seconds he hopped out the bed and followed me down the hall. Great! This was obviously not working well so I caved and held him like he was an infant and waited for Nicholas to eventually fall asleep. There was crying but soon enough he was asleep and I ensured he was secured in his twin bed. Excellent now I could get some rest.

Unfortunately, this was not the case. The entire night I continued to wake myself up because I was hearing things and Akilah was being difficult. Midnight – I thought Nicholas had woken up and went downstairs. 1:30am – Did I hear a door close? Perhaps he locked himself in the laundry room. I actually can’t explain why I was being so paranoid. Around 2am I got up for the last time to check and Nicholas was still in his bed asleep so I finally passed out . That only lasted until 4:30am when felt my son touch my arm. He had his favorite blanket in hand and wanted to “Come on up.” Yep, he wanted to sleep with Daddy and Mommy 🙁 I helped him up in our bed and he said “Goodnight Mommy” and he feel asleep within seconds. At that point I was too exhausted to bring him back to his bed. Overall it wasn’t a complete disaster but I believe it will take some time for Nicholas to become adjusted to the “big boy bed.”