A big boy bed

Look at this gorgeous little man:

He's had a haircut since then and I miss his lovely curls. It is still quite long though.

Anyhow, Ben is 2 and a quarter today and growing so quickly! He is brilliant: so funny, charming, kind, loving, strong, clever and independent. How such a small person can have so much personality is beyond me. To me it is absolute evidence that we were people before we were born.

He has worked out in the past week that he can climb out of his cot: arghhhhhhhhh!

See, I have been using his cot as a playpen of sorts when I go for a shower in the morning. He is usually very happy to choose a couple of toys to take upstairs after breakfast and play with in his cot, and I get a few minutes to shower, get dressed, stick some washing on etc. It's usually about 20 mins before he starts asking to come out, which is great. Since Amelia arrived it has been trickier, since Benjamin's thinking is that whenever the baby falls asleep it is 'Mummy and Ben time', whereas I'm thinking the first time the baby falls asleep is 'Quick! Must get clean from the dried on milk/spit/yogurt/baby wee/general smelliness of the previous day and night' time. Not hugely compatible.

And that means that my little superstar is no longer particularly impressed about going into his cot. So he makes a loud fuss and usually wakes Amelia up which means that no one gets what they want. Sigh.

When it does work (i.e. when I've sneaked upstairs with Amelia and Ben hasn't followed me making a loud noise AND she's gone into her moses basket without waking up AND he's chosen to go up to his cot without making so much noise she is disturbed before I get his door shut AND she miraculously sleeps more than 5 minutes), he plays for about 3 minutes then climbs out! The first time I was stunned to see him walking nonchalantly into the bathroom and saying 'Hey'. The second time I laughed. The third time I was like, 'Ben, how on earth are you doing that??' so he showed me! I couldn't believe how easy it was for him!

And now, after 4 days of it and one falling-out (falling out of the cot, not falling out with each other), I'm feeling that there's not much point putting him in there any more.

Sooooooo...

... the big boy bed!

This has been set up in his room for months. Ebay bargain! I kept telling him about it before we set it up, I said he'd have a special blanket and a pillow like mummy and daddy, and that he'd be able to get in and out himself and he'd be a big boy like daddy. And I was all excited about getting special Toy Story bedding for him. Then he saw it, and he was like Nuh-uh. He went over to it once and patted Buzz, and he's not voluntarily been near it since. I think Amelia has been on it more than he has!

The first night I said he was going in his big boy bed, he sobbed until I asked if he wanted his cot, to which he shouted 'YEAH!', so I put him in his cot. For a while I would ask him each night where he was going to sleep, cot or bed, and he's always cried and pointed at his cot. I've tried to help him get the idea by sitting on it together to read stories, or having a cuddle on there together but he always cries and points at the rocking chair. I don't get it!!!

Obviously I get that he's always slept in his cot and that's comforting to him. I often see him putting his feet up on the bars when he's falling asleep, or touching the sides with his hands. He has always been a creature of habit and loves his routines, so maybe it's just too much of a change for him. I don't think it's down to Amelia's arrival because I started trying to put him in the bed before she was born, and I've never said to him that we want the cot for her.

I just thought he'd be really excited to sleep in his Woody and Buzz bed, and be able to get out and play in the mornings. Maybe that just hasn't clicked yet.

We'll have Amelia in our room for another 4 months at least, so we're okay as long as she'll fit in the moses basket. I have a lovely stand for the moses basket (another eBay bargain), and it fits beside our bed easily so I can just scoop her out without even leaving the realms of the duvet, so it's a good arrangement. I just know that as soon as we acquire another cot for her to move into, Ben's going to suddenly be ready to move to the bed!