Night 3 of sleeping in the Toddler Bed

I think we have success!

The first night of Tam in his toddler bed was...well...rough. Probably one of the most sleepless nights we have had in a long time with the little one. Tam didn't want to stay in the bed, so he kept getting up and standing at the gate in the doorway and crying...and then crying for daddy...and then crying for mommy. Eventually, really only like 15minutes, it was quiet.

The bets were on...

I totally thought Tam had pulled off his blankets and slept on the floor.

Brian was optimistic that he had fallen asleep back in his bed.

This is how we found him when we checked 'round 10pm:

Tamlin was *mostly* on the bed.

Good boy.

However, our walking up the stairs woke him up and he immediately came over the gate while crying. We kissed him goodnight again, and I walked him back to his bed. He's back out again in moments and wailing at the gate...Mommy! Daddy! We ignored him and headed to our beds. The crying does stop again within 10minutes.

Around midnight, we hear a THUMP, which is followed by keening. Kiddo fell out of his bed and onto the floor that was 6 inches away. Probably the act of falling scared him more than the bump to his head. Brian goes to comfort him and he, in his sleepiness, pulls Tam to the big bed with us.

Around 1 or 2AM, we hear another THUMP. Tamlin has fallen out of our bed, which is quite a bit higher from the ground than 6inches. We gave him kisses and placed him between us for more security and hoped that all of us will fall asleep again quickly. No go. Instead of sleeping, Tam decided to pat me on the head and kick Brian in the chest. I'm thinking Tam is secretly hoping that we would leave so that he could have the entire bed to himself and his sprawling tendencies. Brian tolerated this for about 5minutes before whisking Tam back to his bed, shutting the door, and having a firm resolve not to check on him again.

Finally, we all sleep peacefully until morning.

Day & Night 2: I've become wiser. This time I placed a pillow and a stuffed elephant besides Tam's bed just in case he fell out again. His nap was a disaster. Tam would stay in the bed for moments before crying at the gate. He only really got 45minutes of sleep. Because of this, we started our bedtime ritual earlier so that he could make up the sleep during the night. However, besides a little crying at the gate at bedtime, Tam slept very well until morning.

Day & Night 3: Naps have gotten better, but Tam does tend to grab a book or two and "read" himself to sleep. No additional incidents of falling out of the bed...yet...keeping my fingers crossed on this one.

And for anyone wondering, in the photo that's the stuffed elephant under his bed that I pulled out to help buffer his future falls.

Little one is growing up

With the upcoming event of potty training (soon, I think), we decided that Tam should transition out of the crib to the toddler bed. Remember oh-so-long ago when I was pondering what crib to get for kiddo? And recall I finally decided on one that went from crib to toddler bed to head/foot board of full size bed? Anyways, I think we are ready for "phase 2" of the transformer bed.

With great pomp, I removed the high side-rail of the crib and replaced it with a shorter, half-rail. This means it looks kind of like this photo. However, of the entire process, Tam was most fascinated with the long screws I removed. He kept trying to put them back in the sides! Eventually he realized that he can get in and out of the bed on his own. He giggled quite a bit.

The big test came at bed time. For added insurance, I placed a baby gate in his bedroom door. Okay...place your bets...
Do you think Tam...

1. Crawled into bed, put his head on his pillow, and went right to sleep.
2. Crawled into bed, put his head on his pillow, but was out of the bed within minutes and playing with toys.
3. Crawled into bed, crawled out of the bed, began to cry at the gate for momma, and fell asleep on the floor.
4. Crawled into bed, crawled out of the bed, began to cry at the gate for momma, but eventually crawled back into the bed and fell asleep.

I'll let you ponder the choices with the answer tomorrow!

Wordless Wednesday - Sunflowers

Our sunflowers are nearly to the second story window of the house...
And we are receiving regular visitors!

Young chef?

I am glad that Tam is a really good eater, with the exception of meat. I'm not sure how many 20mth year-olds like broccoli and asparagus! However, I am not sure about Tam's culinary skills on his own. Kiddo loves peanut butter and mustard, and will eat many things if these are slathered on the food.

Last week, pint-size master chef came up with this delectable lunch...
Pretzels, peanut butter, and peaches...
Mixed all together.

Yes, he did eat it all up.

On the upside, he has figured out the fork and is quite capable of spearing food into submission now.

uh-oh

Tam's spoken vocabulary is growing. This week's favorite words are "no" and "uh-oh."

Whenever Tam drops something, car from his hands or spoon from his high-chair, he now utters "uh-oh." I've been told that this will even be worse if there is a long period of silence prior to the phrase.

As to "no," Tam is increasing its usage at what seems to be an hourly rate. Most of the time he does really mean no, but not always. The funniest is that he'll say no just as he is about to do something wrong (and look around to see if Brian and I are watching). For example, today while Tam and I were outside, Tam was playing with the sidewalk chalk. He knows that he is not supposed to write with the chalk on anything but the sidewalk. However, Tam goes up to the door with the chalk, raises it in his hand, but just before writing on the portal, he starts uttering "no, no, no." The downside is even if he knows he shouldn't be doing so, he may still continue the action. Oh, well...at least it is step in the right direction :-)