Ephram's Big Boy Bed

When we left off on my Christmas in July post, I mentioned that the boys were super excited to learn that there was another present waiting for them where they slept.

And Ephram was about to discover a very big surprise.

We had talked to Ephram about moving into a big boy bed and sharing a room with Charlie for months.  Our initial intention was to move him there mid-March but a little thing called pre-eclampsia and the early arrival of Macie changed our plans.  Instead, we had worked on slowly moving him.  By this time, all of his toys had moved into the room and he understood that it was to be his room too.

We had been reading an excellent book, Your Own Big Bed, for a couple of weeks.  He loved learning about how all of the animals were babies, just like him.  How they were held by their parents, learned to walk/hop/swim, and eventually found a bed of their own.  It was a great way to introduce the concept without being completely obvious.

Then, the week before we had gone to Target and showed him all of the bedding sets.  He had proudly chosen out a Cars-themed set.  The only problem was that they did not have the comforter in stock.  So we had to wait for it to arrive from Target.com.  While we waited, I had also ordered him a pair of big boy Cars pajamas and a set of Cars board books as a surprise.

Ephram knew what was going to happen eventually, but he had no idea that I had washed everything and snuck up to his room to make his bed while he was outside riding his bike with Charlie and his Dad.



So, when we told him to go to "where you sleep" to find a surprise, he ran up the stairs.  He paused very briefly at the door of the nursery, and then laughed gleefully as he ran into the boys' shared room.  He saw the bed, all while still clutching his new copy of Harold and the Purple Crayon.

He was so excited.  His smile was priceless, but he was also instantly shy.  He tried so hard to reach the present waiting on his pillow without actually getting on the bed.

Finally he reached it and ripped off the paper to reveal the set of Cars board books.  He immediately opened the carrying case and started to flip through the book about Mater.  (In the meantime Charlie found and opened his second present too - the first two books in the Geronimo Stilton series.)

Finally, Ephram decided he could be brave enough to climb up on the bed.  How else could he investigate his new Mater Pillow Pet?

And then my wild two year old went crazy.  He started rolling all over the bed, jumping on the bed, making vroom vroom noises, and pointing out all of the cars that he recognized.  Shy no more, just super excited.

After awhile I went to get his final surprise, his new Cars pajamas.  He usually wears footy pajamas because he really isn't a fan of covers at night.  But lately he has really wanted to wear this 2-piece style of pajamas so that he can be just like Charlie.  He was so excited to put them on.  And then my Remy decided it was time to take a peek under the covers.  He instantly went all the way to the foot of the bed underneath the sheet and blanket.  There he rolled around and pretended to be an Ephram-monster before climbing back to the top with my favorite huge smile.

And then it was time for sleeping.  I will be truthful.  He was nervous to sleep in the bed.  We ended up bringing in a flashlight and a cup of water and setting them next to his new set of books.  It took about 20 minutes of "flashlight reading", some shadow puppets, and the night's unique rendition of Ephram and the Three Bears before I heard his sleep-breathing.  (Ephram loves, loves the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.  Except I change the lead character to Ephram and really draw out the beginning of the story.  He loves hearing about what the house that the three bears live in will look like each night.  On this specific night, it was made out of tires, cones and old road signs.)

He woke up at about 2am.  I went in and had to stay with him for awhile.  He was nervous to be there alone.  Finally we settled on my giving him Mr. Floppy, the bunny that the boys brought for me when I was in the hospital.  Mr. Floppy kept me safe, warm and happy then, and now he keeps my boy happy.

Mr. Floppy did his job, and has every night since.  And this is what I found that first morning.

Ephram seems to cherish his newfound independence.  I often find him in the morning, sitting at my usual spot on the couch, legs crossed, iPod in his lap and a beaming smile.  One morning I found him at the window in our breakfast nook, after he had fed himself a bowl of Lucky Charms and self served a cup of water.  He was definitely ready for this step.  And I am so proud of him.  He's getting so big!