The inevitable.

So today the inevitable happened. I put Josiah down for his morning nap. About 10 minutes later I heard a large thud. I immediately knew what it was. I went rushing into his bedroom to find him clamoring to his feet, rubbing his head and crying...on the floor. This would be after an ungraceful dismount from the crib, of course. I consoled him, looked him over, and when I felt settled that he was more startled than injured, I called my mom to lament. When I told her what happened she laughed. Of course. She has been asking me for months if he had attempted such feats yet. She knows him well, and of course when she found him climbing the outside railing of her stairs this weekend she knew it wouldn't be long.

That being said, I ran my ideas off of her and looked online to see what other parents had done in such situations. It seemed as if some transitioned to toddler beds and some had purchased crib tents. I read one awful story of a child dying from getting part of the way through a crib tent, which of course was enough to influence my decision. It was capped when I looked up the price for crib tents, which run anywhere between $55 and $80. When I purchased Josiah's crib mattress, I also purchased a toddler bed with it. Since I already had quick (and now free) access to a toddler bed, I opted to try the toddler bed first and if it was disastrous I could reevaluate and potentially purchase a crib tent.

Tonight we went out to dinner for Jonathan's dad's birthday and came home and completely re-situated Josiah's bedroom. We removed any form of step-stool (ie, his small table and chest), mounted an extra-tall gate in his door frame, disassembled his crib, and introduced the toddler bed. I had a nervous excitement in my stomach, the one that crops up when something unbelievable is about to happen. If things went well, it would mean my BABY was big enough for a bed all of his own. Gasp.

We went through our normal night time routine, but as I laid him in his new bed I sat down beside him and sang to him for a little while. I rubbed his tummy thinking I was going to leave him asleep just this one time. He did not fall asleep, so I stood up, told him "night night" and walked out as usual. As I closed the door behind me he was yelling, "night night! night night! night night!" into the darkness. I held my breath as I walked through the house, waiting on his next move. All I heard was silence. After 30 full minutes of silence, I am convinced that he did not try to get up but instead fell asleep in his bed without a hitch. PRAISE THE LORD! Some things are too good to be true. Rather, too good to be true without the Lord's good kindness. This is one of them.

I have a growing list of other things I want to write about, but for now, for the night, I think this story deserves a page all of its own. I am greatly (and thankfully) humbled by my previous assumptions of his readiness for a toddler bed. That is, until morning arrives.

Josiah in his crib for the very last night (and first without a bumper)

The new big boy bed

Asleep in the toddler bed for the first time