Big Boy Bed

Well... I guess is official now. Levi is a big boy. We moved him out of his crib and into a twin bed. Yikes...how'd he get to be so big? In preparation for the transition, we took Levi to help us pick out his new bed. Then a few days later, we went to the store and he got to pick out his new sheets all by himself. This, in and of itself, it a pretty funny story. So we went to Ross and immediately found three sheet sets that I knew Levi would love--a ball one, a tractor one, and a car/train/bus one. However, I only wanted to pay for two: one to use and one to wash. I thought for sure Levi would want the ball one, so I put it in the cart and then asked him to choose between the car/train/bus one and the tractor one. He picked the car/train/bus set. Then we are walking around, browsing other things when Levi starts saying "Tractor! Tractor! Tractor!". So I head back over to the sheets and pull down the tractor set and told him that he had to pick just two of them. He ended up picking the tractor and car/train/bus sets-I was shocked he gave up the ball set. (Let me tell you, I must have looked really funny trying to explain and reason with a two year old, but it was all about him and making the transition to a new bed easier.) After we finished up browsing, we were in line to check out when Levi decided he didn't want the tractor set. I asked if he wanted the ball set instead and he said no. He was very adamant that he only wanted the car/train/bus set. Silly boy! So I saved myself $10 and only got him one sheet set.

The bed we ordered for Levi came in last Saturday (one week ago). We only got him a mattress, no boxspring, because I didn't want him to fall off the bed. So that night when we got home, we threw the mattress down in front of his crib, put the sheets on, and began the struggle! Levi was super excited about his new bed, but going to sleep was a whole other story. Basically, what it came down to was the first couple of nights Sam had to fall asleep with Levi in bed, get up with him in the middle of the night, and in the morning ending up waking up with Levi either in our bed or the guest bed. What a good man Sam is. I am especially grateful for all he did since I was up with Brinley quite a bit...we had a sleep deprived household. Well, things have gotten tons better with Levi and his new bed. We moved his crib and put his mattress in the corner of his room so his head and one side where up against walls--I think that helped quite a bit. To go down for the night, he still wants one of us to lay in bed and fall asleep with him, but now he sleeps through the night. (well...except last night, but hey, we'll take what we can get!) And for Levi's nap yesterday, I read him two stories, sang him two songs, then told him he could play until he was tired, then he needed to get in bed and go to sleep. Four hours later, he woke up and proudly told me about how he did just what I told him. Hopefully things just keep getting better and better like that! So here is our sweet little boy in his big boy bed.



Oh...I almost forgot the bed part. We checked a book out from the library called The Best Class Picture Ever! In the book, the photographer tells the class to say "cheeeeeese". I had never done that with Levi before, and thought to do it when I took these pictures. He caught right on saying "cheese" and giving me a huge grin. I love it!