Big Day, Big Bed!!!

It was a big day in our house yesterday as the mattress we ordered last week to convert our son's crib to a full size bed was delivered.  He's a little over two now, has the ability to climb in and out of the crib, and about once a week he will wake up in the middle of the night and end up in our bed.  We both like the idea of being able to move to his bed if he wakes up, instead of him coming to our bed and before he hurts himself climbing we figured it was time to make the switch. 

We had bought the full size conversion kit for his crib about a year ago, opting to save some money by skipping the toddler bed conversion kit and go straight for the real thing.  I had hoped on DIYing some bed rails to go with the new mattress, but the store bought ones were only going for $20 and we liked that they were covered with a mesh so I gave up on this DIY dream. 

Goodbye Crib!!!

Anyways, I got home from work and was greeted to a level of excitement that can only be matched by a two year old.  He instantly wanted to show me his new bed, but at that time I don't know how well he actually linked the two mattresses leaning up against the wall to the crib we were about to disassemble.  After a quick change of clothes I dove right into the conversion and began taking apart the crib.  With my little helper by my side uttering the words "daddy help" over and over we had the crib taken apart in about 15 minutes. 



With the crib pieces gone it was time to add the bed rails to the headboard and footboard.  Once again, with my little man helping me all along the way we had them put together in about 10 minutes and were almost ready for the mattress.  All that was left was to screw the slats into the bed frame.  Of course I can't get out my drill without him using his toy drill in a similar fashion, so both of us with our drills in hand began putting the finishing touches on the bed assembly.  We made quick work of this part with me screwing down each slat, and him "working behind me" making sure I had it good and tight with his drill. 

At this point I'm still not sure what he was thinking.  I know we have been talking about a big boy bed for a few weeks now, but how much he understood that I'll never know.  What I do know is the crib he was so used to sleeping in was now gone and a part of me thinks he must have been wondering a ittle bit what exactly was happening.  We begin with the box spring and his excitement only grow, climbing up on the bed and trying to lay down the whole time we are trying to get the bed skirt somewhat even.  Next came the mattress, he was eagerly helping us remove the plastic and the second it was on the bed he had already climbed up and said night-night.  It was a good sign, but we still had dinner, some play time, and bath before actual "night-night" when we would learn how this transition would go. 

We made it through the next few hours of our typical routine pretty normally, only with him constantly talking about his bed and wanting to go get in it.  After bath, a quick snack, and tooth-brushing we had reached the moment of truth.  What would happen when we tried tucking him into a bed he could easily get out of, would he show up in the living room a few minutes later with a smile on his face?  We did everything as normal and while he was excited to get in his bed, he let out a few whimpers when I left the room.  We were worried of what was to come but much to our surprise outside of those few whimpers he went right to sleep and slept through the night without any problems.  Hopefully, it goes this easily every night but I know he was super tired last night as he didn't nap due to the delivery so we will see if he keeps it up.  Either way we were super proud but left wondering when our little boy grew up so much.

The finished product with all his "friends" and blankets.