The Toddler Bed & Other Adventures

A couple of weeks ago Jace tried to climb out of his crib at bedtime, fell and got his leg stuck in between the bars.  I heard him scream and went and got him loose right away, but his thigh was already red and scratched up.  At that point I decided it was time to quit putting off the toddler bed.  Since Jace slept so well in his crib, I wanted to keep his mattress and just find a second hand toddler bed frame to use with it.  After a few days of searching craigslist I found a car bed frame for $35 in Summerville.  After a really "interesting" pick up, and about three hours of scrubbing, cleaning and disinfecting the plastic frame... we put it together and... voila, a new toy!  

Jace thought it was a bigger version of his cozy coupe car and had fun climbing all over it and jumping off.  Unfortunately the fun stopped as soon as bedtime came.  I naively thought that the toddler bed transition would only be stressful on me... "Is he going to roll out?"... "Will he escape in the night?"... "Is the shelf anchored to the wall well enough if he decides to climb it in the dark?"... But, what I didn't think about was that it would be scary for him. 

Our normal bedtime routine was just simply turning off the lights, turning on the sound machine, giving hugs and saying night night when he was in the crib.  I tried to do this Jace's first night in the toddler bed and he was gripping on to me for dear life and screaming.  I tried to comfort him but he just kept climbing out of the bed and holding me... so I laid him down and immediately left the room and shut the door.  I knew he wouldn't leave the bed once it was completely dark in there and he was alone.  It was really hard to hear him that hysterical.  I know he was that way for a couple nights when he transitioned to the crib after spending his first few months in our room... but I hardly remember that anymore.

I sat in the hallway outside his door, listening and making sure he wasn't going to get out or fall out of the bed.  Eventually he fell asleep and stayed asleep all night.  Around 9 am I peaked in to check on him and left the door open.  He woke up about a minute later from the light pouring into his room, and silently jumped out of bed and came running into our room looking frantic.  He was so happy to see us!  I think he thought he'd woken up in someone else's house or something.

It's been a few days in the toddler bed and it's gotten easier everyday.  The crying only lasts about a minute or two at naptime and bedtime now... so hopefully there won't be any crying pretty soon.  He's been sleeping his full 2+ hour naps and 12+ hour nights and hasn't rolled out of the bed or gotten out and played at all during the night.  All in all, I think it's been a great transition and even though it was a rocky start, I was comforted to hear other parents say their kids had a tough time for the first week too.  Now when I hear a noise in the middle of the night I no longer wonder if Jace just climbed out of his crib and fell... instead he's close enough to the floor that he can just hop down safely.

We've been keeping busy lately, but haven't been very good at documenting our daily activities with the camera or blogging about them.  We're definitely starting to feel more settled in Summerville.  We've been in our house four and a half months now and it's starting to come together and feel more "lived in".  It's amazing how long it takes to actually fill your house with things after a big move... and not just the big pieces, but the little things.  Often we would go to grab a certain cleaning product, condiment, or tool and realize we don't have it here and have to make several trips to the store each week.  Now, finally our house feels like somewhere we live, and not just somewhere we're staying temporarily.

Most days we do an activitity with our moms group friends in the early part of the day, and spend the afternoons at home taking care of the house and spending time one on one.  Most evenings Jace and I will spend some time outside in the backyard after the sun starts to set.  I'm really enjoying being domestic and little things like cleaning, decorating, baking, crafting, or thrifting seem to make me happy these days.  Jace being a bit more independant these days really helps allow me to do some of these things now... which is really nice since Tate travels so much.

Playdate with our moms group

"Pull me!"

Tate and I have both been making some new friends and focusing on making sure we give eachother time each week to do something we enjoy by ourselves... whether it's golfing for him, or having a get together with some ladies for me.  (Well it's still a work in progress... but I think it's important to balance family time, work, and our own individual interests in everyday life.)  I recently hosted a Mom's Night In- Recipe Exchange Potluck at our place and it was a lot of fun.  Everyone brought a dish to share and the recipe, and Tate made copies of all the recipe cards for everyone to take home.  We remembered to take a picture at the end of the night, but sadly some had already left.

Some of the ladies at the recipe exchange.

Tate has really enjoyed getting to know the husbands of the woman in the moms group.  We have been doing more family activities and I'm really happy to see him making friends in our area.  It's alot easier for me to meet people being home all the time and being surrounded by other moms, but for guys it seems to be quite a bit harder... so I'm happy to see several of the "dads" making new friends through the group as well.  This weekend we went over to a friend's house for memorial weekend and Tate was in the zone playing bags in their backyard.  He didn't want to leave at the end of the night.  :)

Other than that Jace has just been livin' the dream...



Enjoying his first Ice Cream Cone




Learning how to use the potty from his super weird Potty DVD




Riding his first Trike, $2 garage sale find



Riding it daredevil style...

Spending evenings in the backyard before bed...

Bedtime snacks on his very own table.

and mostly... just relaxin!