Brave Big Boy

Two weekends ago on a whim, we went out and bought Jacob a new bunkbed that I found on craigslist. Since he's having a brother we knew that we'd want them to have a bunk bed in the future, but for now we wanted Jacob to be able to use the top bunk on it's own as a toddler bed since it has a rail. And with the arrival of this baby getting closer, everyone encouraged us to switch Jacob to the bed before the baby comes to make it easier.

And I was planning on making the transition easier by putting his bed in his room for now so he could ease his way out of the crib but still be in his room a little longer. But understandably, Luke didn't want to have to set up his bed and then have to move it to his new room in a few months from now, so we agreed to just start getting his new room ready and he could make the change all at once.

So all last week Jacob watched us set up his bed and buy things for his new room, and he's been so excited! He talks about his bunk bed all the time and loved jumping in it (and on it) and pretending to go night-night like a big boy. So the room isn't much, but we figured it was cozy enough that he could make the switch over.
So Easter night was the big night and Jacob was finally ready to sleep in his new bed. I think I had the hardest time with it- all the sudden I wasn't sure that I was ready to give up all the mornings he'd let me sleep in, and figured maybe we really did still have time to put it off a little longer. And most of all I worried that maybe we were trying to push him into too many transitions at once- new bed AND new room.

But we stuck with it and kept his same night routine. He was obviously pretty nervous the first night and was close to tears but kept repeating that he was going to be ok. It seemed that he was mostly just nervous being in this new room. But after a lot of stalling on my part, I left him alone and closed the door behind me. It was quiet for 2 minutes and then he started crying and came running to our room. I put him back to bed twice and was about ready to give up, I hated forcing him to sleep in a bed if he wasn't ready.

But then I decided to get him a soothing CD with just soft piano music, and then Luke layed down with him and just kept telling him to be brave, and after 20 minutes he left him alone. Surprisingly, Jacob stayed in bed after that and put himself to sleep soon after without crying again at all. I couldn't believe it. Although it was hard and heartbreaking at first, Jacob actually did a great job!

He slept through the night, finally falling asleep at about 9:45 and woke up at about 7 when Luke was leaving for work. So that was not as fun having to wake up 2 1/2 hours earlier than normal, but then yesterday he slept until 8:15, so maybe it wont be too bad soon enough! And since he is falling asleep just a little later and waking up earlier, he's at least taking nice 3+ hour naps again to make up for the sleep lost at night. So I guess I can live with that, haha.

So anyway, it's been 3 nights now that he's slept in his bed and he has completely impressed me. I had spent so much time worrying about how to set up his new bed situation and how he would handle it, and I'm so glad that, at least so far, he really has done amazing! And it's so sweet how every morning when Jacob wakes up he's so proud of himself for sleeping in his bed, and tells us how he was brave, and did a good job, and is a good boy. It's nice to hear him being so proud of himself because I think that's what's been helping him keep it up, because he knows how happy and proud of him we are each morning.

So I originally started this post thinking I was going to need to ask for advice, but as a few days have passed I'm pleased that things are going smoothly enough so far. I never really expected the transition to be easy and it still is taking us all some getting used to, and I know it will still take a little more time until Jacob's completely comfortable with the idea. But I'm just so proud of him- and sorry for all my details but I wanted to be able to remember how we did this, for future reference and because this really is a big deal for us! Jacob has been growing up so quick lately, but we are so proud of our big boy!