Big Boy Bed

Charlie is our little acrobat. From the day that he came to live with us to today, his upper body strength seems to have tripled. He can climb and flip over anything... and I often find myself running towards him as he does something dangerous when I turn my back. Sometimes it doesn't work - like the day that he tried to flip over the back of our couch and landed on his face. He cried so hard, but I think I could have cried more... if I wasn't trying to stay calm for his sake.

His favorite thing to climb in and out of has always been his crib. It started about a month after he moved in... I would hear him crying during nap time, and when I went into his room he was straddling the crib at the top... one foot in and one foot out. Eventually, I would hear a CRASH and then a cry... and then I started leaving the railing down so that he wouldn't have to go as far... but he still usually chose to go off the very top. I spent time with him showing him how to do it safely, since it didn't seem like I could keep it from happening.

He also got very good at climbing into his crib, and for the last two months he would cry if I put him in. (He'd usually also start yelling, "I want Charlie does it!") So I found myself taking him back out so that he could climb in. He would stand at the bottom of the railing, where the mattress goes, lift his arms to the top ... and then basically do a chin up while shimmying his legs around the bars. Pretty soon it took him about 5 seconds to be on the other side.

Three weeks ago he managed to start getting out of the crib without jumping down. I spied on him because I was curious how he did it. Imagine how scared I was as I saw him lean over the top, and go down head first... but his arm strength kept him from slipping... he would crawl to the bottom of the railing and then flip over onto the ground.

The day I saw that, Andy and I decided that it was definitely time for a big boy bed. We had a bunch of errands that we needed to run about an hour or two south of us... right by IKEA. So, we fit IKEA into our plans. We bought Charlie a big boy bed that will adjust from a toddler to a twin. We set it up the next day and he slept in it that night. He was soooo proud to be a big boy in a big boy bed. It was incredibly cute, and it made him seem a lot older to me. I am really starting to miss the little toddler that moved here, because he is fast evolving.

We choose a car and truck theme for the bedding and his room. I had ordered the bedding online, so it took a few days to get it. Once we did, and we got it on his bed, he was in LOVE with it. He has two car pillows that he can drive on his quilt, (which has a picture of a road on it.) He automatically jumped on and started driving his cars around... and he wouldn't stop for an hour. He clearly is in heaven. And for my part? I'm looking for a gymnastics class to enroll him in. :)