by Bonnie Christiano

Created on: June 15, 2009

It seems like I am always anxious to move to the next milestone in my son's life, from eating solids, to crawling and walking. I was not as anxious about moving him out of his crib into the toddler bed. I had no plans to make the transition but at about 15 months old, my husband and I found out we would be welcoming a new baby into the family. I only had one crib so it made sense to start thinking about what we were going to do when the baby was born.

I still thought my son was a little young and didn't want to rush things. However, I did have in the back of my mind that we had a deadline. I wanted to make sure he was out of the crib at least a couple of months before our new baby's arrival. I didn't want him to think he was being kicked out of his crib and that the new baby was taking his place. So that was plan.

Things didn't quite happen on that time frame. My son had been walking since he was eleven months old and had been climbing right around that time as well. I never had a problem with him climbing out of the crib because he is just a little guy. The mattress was moved to the lowest point and the railings were raised to their highest. One day I was putting him to bed and he stood at the railing, whimpering and pleading for me not to leave. Usually I just kiss him on his sweet little forehead, say goodnight and leave the room. I don't know what made me turn back around but on this night I wanted to give him one extra kiss and squeeze before I left him. To my horror, he had pulled himself up on the railing, one leg over. I couldn't believe my eyes. The railing came up to his chest and I couldn't understand how he could possibly have accomplished this feat. Turns out he is a little gymnast.

Well, needless to say I couldn't leave him in his crib that night. He slept in his play yard and we set up his toddler bed the next day. The bed was set up in the same spot as his crib just to allow a sense of familiarity, at least from his viewpoint. I also moved the crib out of the room, out of sight, out of mind. Toddler bed set up, now it was time to explore. We spent a lot of time in his room that day, just getting in and out of the toddler bed. He seemed to absolutely love it. I was relieved.

I was optimistic but not nave. I knew he may struggle with the transition at first and was prepared to be patient. That fist night we followed our normal routine. Routine is key when introducing something new. After our bedtime story

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>