Big Boy

While we were in VA for the holiday, the boys and either Steve or I slept in a king-size mattress that was directly on the floor. Each night, Steve would lie down on the bed first with Ben, and when Ben was asleep I'd go down and lie with Logan until Logan was asleep. We discovered this was the best way to deal with bedtime after the shenanigans of the first night's attempt at putting them down at the same time - logically, all they wanted to do was play with each other.

On our last night, when Steve was lying down with Ben, Ben apparently kicked Steve out of bed, saying, "Night night, Daddy. Time for bed." Steve joined me and Logan and the rest of the Burke Freckles crew and checked on Ben every few minutes. We were certain he'd get out of bed and look for the flashlight (one of his favorite toys) or play beeper (at alternate times his phone or camera) or one of the other toys we'd taken with us. We were shocked when he stayed in bed, and put himself to sleep within 20 minutes.

A side note - ever since our move, Ben has had a hard time going to sleep, both at bed time and nap time. He hasn't had a problem with this since he was 9 weeks old - when he started sleeping through the night (other than the time when he was 6 months old and I sleep-trained him because I was fed up with walking a few miles between my bedroom and his bedroom to help him find his paci about 10 times each night). I can count on one hand the number of times he hasn't cried when we first put him into the crib since we've been in the new house. And every single night he's cried at some point thereafter. It's not been pleasant, for any of us. We know something's wrong, but we just don't know what.

That last night on the big bed was the only night that he hasn't cried at all when going to sleep. (Well, other than the times that we've lied down with him, but who can blame him?)

So yesterday I thought, "Maybe he doesn't like being in his crib anymore and it's time for him to be in a big boy bed."

We put a protective layer of cushy pillows on the floor next to the crib... just in case. It's funny, though - one of the reasons I had this idea is because Ben seems to be a pretty "still" sleeper - his head is on the pillow all night, and his body is in a straight line down the crib. That's exactly how I sleep, funnily. I always joke to Steve that making my side of the bed is so easy because I'm so still at night - I just need to pull the covers back and the bed is made. Making his side of the bed, however, is like a 10 minute ordeal. The fitted sheet is all but off the mattress, there are a hundred pillows, all with the covers half off and half are by his feet, the flat sheet is a mess... you get the idea.

Anyway... we'll see how it goes. This is a huge step for us! Our little boy is growing up :)