Little boy, little boy, won't you close your weary eyes

[beetiger]

We decided that since Rhys has been able to crawl out of his crib for a few weeks now, though he usually doesn't, that is was time to put him in a bed. I fussed for a long time about whether to get a "toddler" bed, which are basically little frames that put a large crib mattress close to the floor so that a two-year-old can get in and out easily, or to put him right in a twin bed. I tested him out on a twin at the 1-800-MATTRESS store, and he enjoyed the jumping but had a bit of trouble getting up and down. At this point we don't need the crib and its mattress for anything else, and I found a toddler bed for $79 at Toys 'R' Us that actually looks like a miniature bed with a wood frame that matches his bedroom set perfectly rather than being a big plastic racecar or SpongeBob or something. It was perfect.

Well, it was theoretically perfect. It took Bard and I well longer than it should to put together the base of it, only to discover that it somehow had two left rails and no right rail. We packed it up and exchanged it, for another one that had no instructions and slightly warped rails, but which was workable. We also discovered that there was a bunch of sealed packaging in the second one that wasn't in the first, and that the second set of hardware did not include an Allen wrench like the first one. We're guessing that we weren't the first people to get the defective set. Since as far as we could tell, they weren't particularly marking the messed up set when they took it into the back, we're probably not the last.

We dealt with the warped rails and put it together anyway. It's adorable. We threw all of his favorite stuffed animals and pillows and blankets on it, and Rhys played there a while this afternoon.

But at bedtime, Rhys clung to my neck and screamed for half and hour when I tried to put him in it. Finally, I gave up, said goodnight, and closed the door, and he screamed for 30 seconds and then went quiet. I had Bard check after a bit, and he is in fact curled up on the little bed in a reasonable fashion.

Someday I'll be able to tuck my kid in like a normal parent, right?

In other news, although they are a bit lumpy and a touch bloomed from too many cycles of hot weather-to-refrigerator, the truffles I got from oakenguy are really delicious. I've eaten the Chambord and the Mint so far.

Comments

[adrian-turtle.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry your first night with the toddler bed didn't go smoothly. The local little girl is now almost 5, but I still remember when she outgrew her crib. (It was very dramatic, she climbed over the side and fell on her head. Her crib mattress moved to the floor that night.) Her father made a little wooden box on the floor to hold the mattress, a few days later. It kept her from kicking the covers and stuffed animals across the room, but she didn't have to climb into it at all.

>Someday I'll be able to tuck my kid in like a normal parent, right?

The toddler bed was *fabulous* for tucking in. You can't sit on the edge of a crib and read a story. With the toddler bed, one of us would sit on the floor at the edge of the bed, and the child would shift from lap to bed as storytime became bedtime. (The transition sometimes happened after she was asleep.) When other toddlers visited, they all wanted to nap in her bed instead of in whatever arrangements their parents usually made for travel.

[walkertxkitty.livejournal.com]

Not looking forward to having to use that particular parenting technique. Something in my body always screams at me to go pick the kid up and do something about the cries. I don't know how you resist it.

You'd think that Toys would get in touch with their manufacturer if they're having that many problems with quality. One of these days it's going to be something more serious than warped rails or screws and parts left out.

[beetiger.livejournal.com]

We never did any real "cry it out", which depending on who you talk to either is why we have a kid with sleep problems, or why we have a pretty happy and well-adjusted kid despite his sleep problems.

It's very teeth-gritting, even for the thirty seconds. But at a certain point, you can tell they're ready to go to sleep, they just have a little trouble getting there. I'm hoping he'll learn the roll over and cuddle the teddy bear without crying method eventually.

This morning, he grabbed my hand and brought me to his room and pointed and said "Crib! No bed! Crib!", so I think it'll still take a bit longer to get used to.

[leswamp.livejournal.com]

My kids went right into big beds from my bed. So far so good. ;)

Ikea is pretty damn great for stuff that works but I don't know if
you've got one near. (Nearest to me is a loooong way off.)