This weekend we went shopping for a big kid bed for Ben. It was a sad day. My baby is BIG now. 
But the day that I saw him hike his leg over the crib rail necessitated a change. So we drove out out to the Mother of all furniture stores… Nebraska Furniture Mart and made our purchase. We came back with the mattress and box springs, the bed itself is on the way in 6 to 8 weeks.
Ben was really proud of his new big boy status. He climbed right up in his bed last night and went right to sleep. Well almost. Chris and I listened at the door for a little bit and there was a very funny conversation going on in there between Ben and Chuck (Evey’s old Build a Bear monkey) that ended with Ben repeatedly saying “I tell Mama” which was a sign that Ben was going to toddle out soon with a tattle tale story of how Chuck wronged him in some way.
After a surprising night of no escape attempts I checked on Ben at 11:00 and he was sound asleep… backwards with his body on the pillow and his head on the mattress. But still, asleep.
At 4:15 am I awoke with a start to hear… calump… calump… calump… calump…
With alarming quickness I register that the noise is in fact not a burglar but Ben’s bum sliding down the hard wood stairs. At 4:15 am. I catapult myself out of bed as my mind starts racing through all the things he’s going to break/get into/spill etc.
I groggily stumble down the stairs and see Ben racing across the living room floor.
“Ben.”
“Hi! Mama! Milk, drink, somethingthatwassaidsofastandstrungtogetherthatIcouldntunderstandit, MILK!”
“Alright Ben, let’s get some milk and go back to sleep.”
“No sleep. No bed.”
“Yes, Ben, it’s time to sleep.”
“No sleep.”
I get milk without a disaster of spilling it, plunk him down in his crib as I NEED the next 30 minutes of sleep before my alarm goes off and stumble back to bed.
“WAAAAHHHHH!”
It’s not a very convincing cry. He’s just playing the “it’s the middle of the night trump card” so I close my eyes and pray he stops soon.
Phew. 5 minutes later there is silence.
20 minutes later my alarm goes off. Bugger. Someone needs to have a talk with that kid about appropriate waking times. (yes, I get up at 4:45 am)
This whole big kid bed thing isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
For the record he never went back to sleep. He was just waiting me out until my shower was over.
Our kids can both work the gate at the top of our stairs, but they can’t do it without making noise to wake us up, so that’s why we’ve kept it so long.
I’m sure Ben just has to get used to it all. Looking forward to seeing his new furniture next month.
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LOL! I feel for you Jen!!!
My 5yo still jumps out of bed at exactly 2am every night! and it’s a different excuse every time – last night’s excuse was “I’m too tired to sleep”, LOL!
My almost 3yo has been in a toddler bed since he was 1 1/2 – and he rarely gets up in the middle of the night, but when he does, he ends falling back asleep in the oddest places – under the bed, on top of the toybox, LOL! :*)
Good luck!
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ok, i know this part is just a sidenote to the story, but now i am needing to know. why, exactly, do you wake up at 4:45 every morning? are you part rooster?
jen, darling, my awe of you has just quintupled (don’t really care if that’s not a word), which is a pretty impressive feat seeing as how i already held you in high esteem. 4:45!
nics last blog post..spring, hand-delivered.
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