Crib to a toddler bed

Sam woke up at 5 am on Saturday and wouldn’t go back down so we got up – come 11am he was cranky so we snuggled on the couch and he quickly fell asleep – I carried him upstairs to put him in the crib and with my humongous 35 week belly in the way I dropped him trying to lay him down and he woke up – GRRRR!! Luckily I got him back down though =) Anyway at that moment I decided the crib is becoming a huge PITA! So after Sam’s nap I decide to turn the crib into a toddler bed (day bed) and we take off the front and attach the railing that covers half the front - When its up DS gets in the bed and is so excited - I can easily sit on the floor to rub his back now - which is awesome and I am super excited!

Until bed time comes....

He goes in at 8:30 and by 9:07pm I am telling Mark to put the crib front back on! He says no and instead covers up the rest of the bed with a board - so now the entire front is "covered" but its still low to the ground - which is nice for me.

So now he can’t get out which he did as soon as I left the room last night for about 50 times. He wasn’t happy about this board being there but finally goes to sleep.

Come nap time Sunday he decides the railing is low enough that he CAN climb over it..... so now we are dealing with him getting out again - he does this 5 times and again I tell Mark to put the crib front back on. Instead he sits in the rocker next to the crib and every time Sam gets up tells him to get back in the bed – he is unhappy about this, but finally falls alseep.

Sunday night Mark was at the neighbors watching the Super Bowl so I did bedtime - Same thing happened - he got out of bed over and over and over. The first 3 times I left his gate on the door open so he comes in my room all smiles and says "hi mommy!" I wish he wasnt so freakin cute cuz its hard to be mad - BUT after that I closed his gate - so now he gets up, turns off his noise machine then stands at the gate screaming. I went in and tried to rub his back but he just sits up in bed and gives me cheesy smiles and strokes my face - its really sweet but not at bedtime when mommy is tired - haha

I then try Mark’s approach and sat in the recliner and said "lay down" every time he got up. Finally I had enough and I told Sam to STAY IN BED and I was going to call Daddy - I left the room and went downstairs to text him - I could see with the monitor Sam wasnt in bed so I assumed he was at the gate - anyway I text Mark to come home and help with DS - in the next few minutes I start to make Sam’s lunch for Monday and it gets quiet so I look at the monitor and he had gotten back in bed all on his own!!! Then Mark walks in the door - go figure! Sam falls asleep and STTN –

Monday morning I am getting ready for work and watching Sam on the monitor – the second he wakes up he climbs out of the crib and stands at the door whining for me. This is a pain because I usually get Sam from his crib once I am totally dressed and ready for work – here I am in my robe with soaking wet hair – Ugh – I have to convince Sam that it’s fun to help mommy dry her hair – haha

Monday night Mark is prepared to take over bedtime duties for the next week – Sam and I do our usual bedtime routine of snuggling in our bed before heading to his room – While we are laying there I tell Sam that he is a big boy and he needs to stay in his bed tonight – no climbing out! He says “no turn off noise machine” I say “That’s right, you don’t touch the noise machine, you stay in bed and don’t touch anything”. We head to his room and I rub his back and then tell him mommy is leaving and to stay in his bed. He says “mommy shut gate?” I tell him yep! To keep you safe! I leave and grab the monitor – he is sitting up but still in bed. Then he starts screaming “No Beary! No Beary!” I laugh and Mark is like “what is he saying???” I tell him I stuck his bear “beary” in the crib and apparently Sam wasn’t happy – so I go in and get Beary and Sam tells me he wants him by the noise machine so that is where I put him. I leave once again.

A few moments later I am watching the monitor and he is fumbling with the crib bumper – now that the crib front is gone there isn’t a place to tie down the strings in the middle – he is screaming “Mommy, fix it! Mommy fix it”

Once again I laugh and grab some duct tape to tape it down but before I get to his room its quiet so I check the monitor and he is laying down – guess he figured it wasn’t a big deal after all =) Then, he goes to sleep!

Not once did he try to get out – I was sooo excited!!!!

Tuesday morning he was still sleeping when I was ready to get him up so he didn’t get up on his own but was in a great mood when I got him.

Not sure if we just got lucky or if he learned really fast to stay in bed – guess we will see how tonight goes!
 
update:  Tonight more success!! yay!  He fussed and as I watched the monitor he looked like he was going to climb out but then he changed his mind - he is in there now playing - at least he is in the crib =)