Jesse's Big Boy Bed

The Friday after Thanksgiving proved to be a very eventful day in our household. The biggest event was Jesse's switch to a big boy bed, but I should say that this was preceeded by Jesse destroying our Christmas tree, which indirectly led to the switch to the big boy bed. The two events may seem totally unrelated to you, but let me explain.

We spent Friday morning getting out our Christmas tree, stringing the lights on it and decorating it. Just when we got it situated in the corner of our living room, nicely out of Jesse's reach behind the couches and end table, Jesse pushed the lamp off of the end table and into the Christmas tree, which caused the already-wobbly-$18-Wal-Mart-tree that we got the first year we were married to go tumbling to the ground.

Not knowing whether or not we had broken glass all over the floor, I decided to put Jesse in his crib so that we could deal with the mess without him getting hurt. This was a bad idea. Jesse knew we were really upset about what had happened and that he was in trouble, which is what I believe caused him to try to scale the walls of his crib. It wasn't but a few minutes later that we heard a loud thud and crying coming from his room. I can't even describe how horrible we felt. Thankfully he was just fine and didn't even cry that long, even though it appeared that he landed right on his forehead. We had no idea he could or would try to escape (well, we knew he was definitely tall enough, but he has never seemed interested in trying).

Anyway, we didn't want to experience this again (even though we're pretty sure he only did it because of the circumstances), knowing it could have turned out much worse, so we just decided to go ahead and try converting his crib to a toddler bed. So far he seems to have no concept of the fact that he can get out of the bed. He climbs in and out of it all day long, but as soon as it's naptime or bedtime, he won't get out.  Case in point: Shortly after we put him down for a nap the other day, we heard him screaming for George, his monkey; he had thrown him out of bed and wouldn't go get him, even though he really wanted him.

I know that soon enough he will likely learn about his new-found freedom and will test his limits, but for now we are grateful for an initially-smooth transition and glad we don't have to worry about another fall.

Oh, and here are some pictures of him in his "new" bed. We just got the railing today, which will allow all of us to sleep better, since Jesse had been falling out, sometimes several times a night.