The Big Boy Bed Follies

Ok, so here's a brief summary of the events that transpired when we decided to turn Charlie's crib into a "Big Boy Bed." It was kind of a spur-of-the-moment idea on the part of us parents. We had moved the changing table from Charlie's room into Amelia's room, since Charlie's feet are hanging off the end at this point (and once, while Mom wasn't around, Dad sheepishly admitted that Charlie had climbed down from the changing table while he "ran" to get some more diapers from the closet). Of course, we played the whole Big Boy Bed thing up to Charlie and he was pretty excited about it, especially helping Dad with the construction.

Doesn't he look cozy? He painstakingly placed all of his ten ca-zillion stuffed animals into his bed, along with his blankie --oh and his power drill. We thought this just might work out fine. Bob was worried about Charlie getting up in the night, sneaking out of his room and getting into mischief that involved something gross in the bathroom or something dangerous elsewhere, so he set up the safety gate in Charlie's doorway. As he was doing so, the bedroom door slowly opened a crack and Charlie's head cautiously poked through. Seeing his dad, he quickly slammed the door shut and jumped back in bed. Miraculously he stayed in bed after that and slept through the night fine. This is where the story takes a turn. The next day, Grandma and Grandpa Bannister came to visit and babysat that night so that Bob and I could go out with some friends. Mom said Charlie didn't go to bed very well and all night he was popping out of his bed and, at some point, he even pulled his rocking chair up the changing table and was grabbing various items. When I went in at one point, he was deceptively in his bed, but had a tube of Desitin clutched in one fist. Sneaky toddler. The same routine took place at naptime.... Parents sternly tell Charlie to stay in his bed, Parents leave room, Parents hear pitter-pattering feet across the wooden floor...you get the picture. The result was a very cranky boy and two cranky parents on a Sunday afternoon. Needless to say, another construction project was at hand for Sunday night--putting the crib rail back into place. Apparently Charlie is not a Big Boy yet.