Big Boy Room!

Well, Jack has officially moved into his new big boy room.  We've been decorating it and talking it up for several weeks now and he has been getting very excited.  As I mentioned we decorated the room in choo choos and he loves it.  Here are some pictures:

The framed area is painted with magnetic paint to hang his artwork.  I'm waiting for my magnets to arrive before hanging a few more of his masterpieces.

The only things we're missing are a mirror above the dresser and possibly a rug, neither of which are urgent.


A few weeks ago I decided to try nap time in the new bed & room, but Jack was too excited about his new-found freedom.  I laid in bed with him and he kept getting up and down from the bed, first to give Maggie a kiss, then to close the door, then to open the door, etc.  After a few minutes I gave up and put him back in his crib in the old room.

With the long holiday weekend I decided we were moving him for good starting Friday and there would be no turning back.  We turned the lock on his door to the outside and we've been locking the door behind us as we leave.  The transition is going pretty well.  Here's a summary of our nights/naps so far:

Friday night (1st night): Jack cried for several minutes and then talked to himself for awhile (longer than usual), but eventually fell asleep.  I always check on him every night before I go to bed, but I was really nervous this time - what if he was laying just inside the door?  I couldn't not check on him though, so I went in.  The sweet little guy was sprawled out on his bed zonked out.  He woke up about 6:00 Saturday morning and was just talking and calling our names.  We went in and he was still in his bed - I don't think he got out of it at all since we walked out of the room.  We were very proud, but of course not counting our chickens before they hatch (luckily!).

Saturday afternoon (1st nap):  I put him down and left the room, locking the door behind me.  He must have immediately gotten out of bed and pretty quickly was knocking on the door saying "Mama!  Mama!"  He was mad for a few minutes, then just went about playing.  I could hear him on the monitor talking and playing, and I was just imagining the mess he was making!  After 45 minutes or so I could hear his drawers all opening and closing.  THEN we heard a big crash and he started crying.  We RAN in there and his dresser had toppled over!  Yikes!  He was fine but was very scared.  I guess he had tried to climb up the drawers.  We had bracketed the bookshelf to the wall but hadn't thought about the dresser since it was low and wide - lesson learned.  That could have been a lot worse.  So after we got him calmed down I held him and rocked him until he fell asleep and put him back in bed.  He took about a 2 hour nap (not terrible compared to his normal 3-3.5 hours).  Here's a picture of the wreckage (minus the dresser, which of course we right-sized):

Saturday night: He followed us to the door when we left and yelled for a minute or two, but then it was pretty much the same as the first night - he talked for a little while but eventually fell asleep in his bed.  That morning we left him in there talking for about 10 minutes and then he got down and started knocking on his door to be freed.

Sunday nap:  He fell asleep on the way home from running errands so I thought I was home free (he normally transfers from car to bed with no problem).  Of course, when I put him in bed, he was suddenly wide awake.  After laying with him for about 5 minutes with him becoming increasingly more awake, I gave up.  We went back out and played for awhile, then put him down again at 1:00.  This was similar to Saturday's naptime (aside from the fallen dresser since it is now safely bracketed to the wall).  He played for about 45 minutes before finally getting upset.  He cried for a good 10 minutes and I finally went in there to find him sitting on his bed.  I held him and rocked him to sleep again (I realize this is not a good trend we're starting, but I'm hoping it's just the transition).

Sunday night: As I mentioned in my previous post, there were fireworks galore, so we rocked him to sleep.  He woke up once but went quickly back to sleep and slept until about 6:20am.

Monday nap: Rocked him again (I know, I know) and he slept for 2 hours and woke up very fussy, so I went in and patted his back for literally 2 minutes and he zonked back out for another 1.5 hours.  Now THAT was a good nap!

Monday night: This was the 4th of July, so we rocked him yet again to get him through the fireworks.  He didn't get to bed until after 9:00 (8:00 is normal) and he slept until 8:00am!!  A record as of late!  He actually woke up at 6:30 and again at 7:30, both times talking for a couple minutes then falling back asleep.  He has proved that my biggest fear (that he wouldn't go back to sleep after first awakening with the freedom to roam in his room) was without warrant.  I underestimated my little guy!

Tuesday nap: I rocked him for a few minutes, but then laid him down awake.  He cried for awhile and tried to get out of his room, but eventually (after 10-12 minutes) climbed back up into his bed and went to sleep.  Slept for almost 3 hours.

SO, long story short, while we've hit a few bumps in the road, all in all, I think our transition is going pretty well.  There is no turning back now because I've already washed all the sheets and cleaned out Sparky's new room.  One of these days I'll start getting out all the infant stuff now that I have some space to put it all!