Back on board and bed

Duncan has finally sorted this thing so I am free to update more regularly - well at least once a month anyway. My neighbour was telling me this morning that she came across my blog when searching for nappy comparisons - that is the second person who has told me that in person -scary! And that document is old now - I've changed my mind about half that stuff!

I thought I would cut and paste some of the emails I have been sending my family regarding the change from cot to bed for Eden. We have a very compliant and settled child but you know me - always planning well in advance for the worse case scenario... I have organised and purchased more stuff than for the previous pregnancy as we borrowed quite a few things back then + there are all the things for Eden's next stage and room. So, with a plan to get Eden settled in to a bed - but with no actual plan of how to do this, we got friends to help shift the furniture around.

Here are some extracts from emails I sent family members:

6/8
Please can you pray about us getting Eden to try sleeping in his new bed - he is not very keen at all - he is quite happy to get his nappy changed on top of it and to jump up and down on it but not to sleep in it!!

He is still not 100% after having a cough and cold all of last week which is not helping because he is not his happy self but a bit grumpy around the edges. We are also hitting the terrible 2 type behaviours with him getting very particular about things... Oh well, it was us that wanted a baby with this age gap!!

7/8
No - we haven't tried the bars thing [Mum was suggesting putting the cot beside the bed so he could see the bars] - the cot is still upstairs. We think we will take both the sides off the cot if we cannot get him to give it a go tonight. Usually I have done a course or read a book about things - but haven't had either this time. I tried to find a book that had something about it in the shops today but nobody seems to talk about this exact transition - and the one that did basically said that you shouldn't try to do it if they are younger than 2 years old - maybe we should have bought another cot and changed him in a year or so.. Oh well, we'll see how it goes.

7/8
Eden is asleep in the big bed as we speak - yay!

He was in a cheerful mood at bedtime so we thought we would give it a go. I remembered that I had put away his Koala that has a small hottie inside it for this occasion - so we got that out and that helped him into the bed, we read a story in there, sucky sucky on board, and then sort of pushed him to lie down - he started to cry so we had another story while he was lying down, did a little song with the teddy bear and started to say goodbye - a little tear but then duncan handed him one of those keyrings that you squeeze and it lights up (secret weapon no.2) - so he focussed on that while we went out the door, 10 seconds of crying and then quiet. it took him about half an hour to go to sleep - but It has not occurred to him to get out - so he has stayed! I think when he cried the first time after the story I could see this look of resignation in his eyes - he has known this was coming - that he wouldn't have a choice and that once we were out of the door - we would not be back - why would we be? We never usually go back to him if he cries when he is put in bed... - which hardly ever happens anyway...

So there you go.

We'll see what he does in the morning...

9/8
D is out tonight (and every Thursday) at his call committee meeting so I'm home alone. Night 3 in the big Eden bed has gone well and I did the routine myself this time! Only trouble was this morning - he woke a lot earlier than his usual 7:30/7:45ish - even before us - the first thing I heard was a door opening and shutting and I wondered if it was the middle of the night! It was Eden padding around the house looking for us in the half dark - not calling out, just walking around trying doors, going up and down the stairs, I waited quietly... Duncan's alarm went off - 7am - he got into the shower - next thing I hear this little voice "hello!" in the bathroom. Duncan sends him into me - I have not been up before 7:30 for a very long time - bleary eyed he comes over to me "off!" he says - meaning "get out of bed!" I tried to get him to snuggle with me for a few minutes while I woke up properly but that lasted about 10 seconds, oh well, "welcome to the real world I say to myself" - most children are up well before 7!!

14/8
I don't think I mentioned that Eden has now figured out that he has other options other than staying in his bed when he is put in it. On Saturday, I thought it was about time to try Eden in his big bed for the afternoon sleep - went fine. On Sunday however, we had Hamish and Adele Wood over for lunch and of course Eden was thinking about the visitors while he was in bed so to our surprise, mere seconds after settling him, he appears back in the living room! I just went and put him straight in the cot for convenience sake and that was fine. You can imagine what happened on Sunday night though - he gets out of bed and probably was expecting to get put into the cot! He got put back in bed 5 times before Daddy was using his serious voice and Eden was doing quite a lot of grizzling/crying - but then he finally stayed - all the while I am having a conversation on the phone to Carolyn and having to put the phone down every few minutes. Last night he didn't get up until this morning thank goodness and this afternoon - out only once before settling to sleep. I was determined that he would not be having to sleep in the guest room while you were staying with us! It will be interesting to see if he comes to visit you guys when he wakes up in the morning... Don't worry he sleeps until at least 7:45...