Friday, May 8, 2009

Another Milestone

PhotoStory Friday
Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Yesterday the boys and I went to pick up Ben's big boy bed. Daddy dutifully took down the crib and put the bed together the minute he got home from work. We hauled the bed upstairs, and after carefully washing the bedding we set it up in Ben's room. To say he was thrilled would be an understatement. He crawled onto the bed and didn't want to come off. He bounced, he sat, and he showed all of his stuffed animals their new home. He even practiced lying in the bed to get a good feel for it.

When it was time for dinner Ben had to be pried off the bed, kicking and screaming. I think he liked his new digs.

That night we kept the same routine as always except we included a gate in his doorway to our nightly ritual. I told Ben he would get juice in the morning and any kind of treat he wanted if he slept like a big boy in his bed. I tucked him in, closed the door, and sat outside of his room waiting. And listening. Nothing.

I turned the monitor up so loud I could hear him breathing, and the ceiling fan whirring, but other than that the room was silent. I crossed my fingers and hoped it would be an easy night as Todd and I talked about how stressful each new transition seems to be. More so on us, though we hide our panic, than on the boys.

I lie awake all night listening for any moans or cries that might come from Ben's room. I held my breath as the ambulance sirens (Ben's biggest unexplainable fear at the moment) blazed past our house at 1:00 in the morning for the fourth time this week. Still, no sound from Ben's room. An hour later I heard cries. But they didn't come from Ben. I quickly ran to Tommy's side to shush and comfort him. I solved the stuffy nose problem, and put him back to bed. As I tip-toed over our creaky wooden floors I prayed that Ben would sleep through the chaos. He did.

When Tommy got up at 5:30 to go to the bathroom and accidentally slammed the door I cursed under my breath. Still, Ben slept.

Todd, Joey, and Tommy got up and went downstairs while I waited in bed for any noise from Ben's room. Finally I got up at 6:30 with Ben still snoozing in his bed. A few minutes later I heard rustling on the monitor and I rushed up to his room where he was chilling and relaxing.
HE DID IT! He slept all night in his big boy bed without any fussing or complaining. No crying. No getting out of bed. No rummaging through his drawers and tossing clothes around. No playing with toys. He was A. Big. Boy.

I was so proud of him. We all danced around and sang songs of Ben's big-boyness. We got him juice! We got him COOKIES! We jumped up and down and clapped our hands. And he loved it.
He was a happy boy, clearly so proud of himself. Later in the morning he even let his brothers sit on his bed for a few minutes, though he constantly reminded them, "Mine!" Just in case they got any funny ideas, I suppose.

It went better than I could have imagined. I am so proud of my little big boy.

Now I just have to keep my fingers crossed and my breath held for naptime.

53 comments:

Rosaria Williams said...

He's happy and feeling special in his own bed. The rest will come.

painted maypole said...

so sweet. love it when a decision you worried about turns out so well! :)

Kris said...

Aww. It's always a big deal when they moveinto a big kid bed

imbeingheldhostage said...

Yeah Big Boy! I love this transition (I'd love it more if mine stayed in their beds). With any luck everything will be old news by the time your princess comes in to stir everything back up :-)

Cassie said...

AW yay! He's such a big boy now!

Krystyn @ Really, Are You Serious? said...

Yay! I'm so glad it went so well for you!

What a big boy!

Not Your Aunt B said...

Yay! What a big boy! We're going to buy a big girl bed for Miss A this weekend and I hope it goes as well as it did for you. Whoo hoo!

Skoots1moM said...

great job, kiz!
happy mother's day

kayerj said...

congratulations and good luck with naptime :) Here’s my photo story happy Friday!

Maggie's Mind said...

Yay for such a big milestone! Sounds like a huge success, and I think it's great that you give so much encouragement. Your boys are all so adorable.

Emily said...

What a big boy!!! We moved Melody a few weeks ago and she was a thrilled with her bed as Ben is. She still is, in fact. I hope the success continues!

MamaGeek @ Works For Us said...

Ha! I adore that shot of all of them in the same big (little) bed. We're debating going to this very soon, so I feel the same way!

Robyn said...

He looks like he loves his new bed.

ewe are here said...

He must be so proud of himself! Well done!


We had to move Boo into a junior bed at 17 months, as he developed into an early climber, as in out of the crib at will. It's so cute how much they love their little beds.

Riahli said...

So cute! I love how proud he looks, isn't it funny how we are usually more worked up then they are about these big milestones. That is a really cute bed set by the way.

Wayne said...

the bed looks very nice and I bet he feels all grown up now

Cyndi said...

How sweet. He really was ready to be a big(er) boy!

Mom24 said...

Aw, that's so sweet, and awesome! I hope naptime went well. By the looks of things he's not going to last in that bed very long. :-) He looks tall.

Kelley said...

YAY!!! That is H.U.G.E.! I'm so thrilled for you, and proud of him. Yay!!!

Anonymous said...

How wonderful! Maybe he was waking up because the crib was too small? I think he looks adorable in his wee bed.

Indy said...

So sweet. And how cool for him to have pics of this for when he is a daddy. Love all of the pics. Have a great Mother's Day!

designHER Momma said...

what a big step for such a big boy!

Cynthia said...

Yay Big Boy Bed!

OHmommy said...

Is that a gate in the doorway?

I was thinking about doing the same for Fifi. How is that working out for you.

And YAY for your BIG boy.

Fire Hunt said...

Great job Ben!

just jamie said...

Awwww.... how sweet is that?

tracey.becker1@gmail.com said...

Yay! How sweet!

Naptime is usually harder, true. Good luck on that one.

Unknown said...

Way to go BEN!! He looks so cozy in that little spot in his darling "big boy" bed!

Happy belated Mother's Day to you Kat! : )

Lindsay said...

Yay for another big boy!!! We always stressed about new changes for the kids too, but they (the kids) never seemed to mind or have a problem with them. Go figure. Congrats! Now you get to fill the crib with a GIRL!

Unknown said...

What a big boy! He looks so cute and PROUD!!

Putting the FUN in DysFUNctional said...

Yay, way to go BEN!!

tweetey30 said...

That is awsome. I remember when we switched both girls.. Yikes.. It was scary for the first few nights..

Anonymous said...

Awww, how SWEET is he on that little bed!! So glad the transition went well for you all! I'll keep my fingers crossed that it keeps up!

Lisa @ Boondock Ramblings said...

That is awesome! I love it! Way to go Ben. My kid just seems to want to sleep with mommy anymore, but this week I want to try moving him to his bed. I think he'd really like it. He likes sitting on it and laying on it, but not so much the sleeping part. There is a long story to that...looong.

Karen MEG said...

I'm such a sucker for sleeping pics... I loved that one.

Whootttt!! Good for your Ben! It's amazing when we fret so much about something and then it's like "poof, what were we so worried about to begin with?"

lime said...

aww, good for him. proper motivation and feeling big are powerful incentives, eh?

Tonya said...

that is awesome!!! I'm so happy the first night was successful :)

Life in the Crazy Lane said...

Yay!!!! And you get to set the crib back up in how many days? *grin*

Loukia said...

Wow! That is so great that the transition to big boy bed went to so well - one night only! Yay for you! :)

Don Mills Diva said...

I am so proud of him too!

We are making this transition (finally!) in conjunction with the move to the new house in July. It's waaaay past time considering he climbs in and out of his crib on his own!

Lisa said...

so glad it went well! love how proud he is!

Maggie's Mind said...

Just checking in to say hi because I miss your posts. Hope all is well!

Mel said...

Oooooh! I'm sooooo envious! Here's hoping Claire's first night in her big girl bed goes at least 1/16th as well as Ben's did!

Karen Deborah said...

these posts are so sweet!

Laura McIntyre said...

Such a big boy , i hope its still going as smoothly for you all.

david mcmahon said...

We're proud of him too, Kat!

Scrappy said...

So cute!
I always worry more than my boys seem to about transitions. We have lost nap time with Lucky since he has been in a big boy bed. *sigh*
I hope Ben is still napping for you.

Kathryn said...

Yeah for Ben! My Ben has still not graduated and I'm putting it off for as long as possible. All my boys like to explore once out of the crib and it makes for many a night of frequent trips to "put them back in bed"! I'm glad your Ben's transition went so well!

imbeingheldhostage said...

you ok, Kat?

Momisodes said...

What a huge milestone! And what a big boy :) That is wonderful he slept through the night so well. Awesome!

Kim said...

So great! Something near and dear to my future - son is 16 months.

Congratulations on POTD!

Cheffie-Mom said...

Awwwww!! This is such a wonderful post! Congrats on the Post of the Day Award!

Rebecca Ramsey said...

Such an accomplishment!
Congrats to you all!

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