I was really in no hurry to move my son out of the crib. I liked knowing that he was safe and secure and planned to keep him there as long as I could. As he got closer to two, though, he became more and more interested in climbing and after seeing him put his foot on top of the crib rail a few times, I started to think about transitioning him. I was nervous that I’d come in after naptime to find him playing on the floor one day, or that I’d hear a thump followed by wailing instead! Every kid is different and there’s no magic age to move them out of the crib–you just have to use your judgement based on your child’s development–but I was expecting to have a while longer.
Since he wasn’t climbing out yet we decided to take things slowly. We bought him a pillow and some sheets and let him get used to sleeping with his head on a pillow in the crib. Then his grandma bought him this book about his personal hero, Elmo, bidding farewell to the crib. After several weeks of talking about it he wasn’t at all surprised when we brought home a mattress one afternoon and started assembling a twin sized bed in his room. Once it was all set up he wasted no time in making himself at home!
We were nervous at bedtime that night but tried not to show it. As excited as he was, he definitely needed a little more support falling asleep. I ended up laying down with him for a little while, then sitting in the chair, then sitting in the living room with his bedroom door open and telling him to lay back down whenever I saw him sit up on the video monitor. I think it helped him feel more secure to know I could see him. Even now he still wants us to leave the door open, which is something we never did when he was in the crib. We have cats so we check to make sure they’re not in the room and close the door before we go to bed. But open door aside, I am shocked to report that he has actually been staying in bed! So far at least, haha.
It feels like the end of an era, y’all. As I stood on his bed to remove the mobile hanging from the ceiling above I remembered being hugely pregnant and climbing into his crib to hang it a little over two years ago (I actually bent the metal mattress support standing on it with my big pregnant self). It’s hard to believe that he’s not a tiny baby anymore! But whether he’s 12 pounds or 200 he’ll always be my baby.
