Switching to regular/toddler bed

This isn't about my twins but about my (almost) 2 year old...
 
This morning I heard a very creepy rendition of Braham's lullaby coming from somewhere in the house.  The twins were watching TV but it wasn't that, suddenly it changed from the lullaby to a heartbeat thumping.  Me and the twins go into Josh's room and find him sitting ON TOP of his dresser playing with his sound machine.  His crib was right next to it.  I'm honestly surprised he hasn't figured out how to get out of his crib yet.  And being the awesome mother I am, I immediately grabbed my phone and took this photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/katheros/10140957546/
 
Anyway, I think given this new found skill we are going to make the switch from crib to toddler bed this week.  We've been talking about doing it around his birthday in a month anyway, get him used to a bed before the new baby comes and we can use the crib for baby eventually.   But I kind of skipped that step with the twins.  They mastered getting out of the crib early so by the time I switched them to regular beds it was no big deal to them.
 
So any tips or secrets or anything you guys can give me on how to make the crib to toddler bed transition easier are greatly appreciated!

 

When I switched my kids into toddler beds I bought them some cool new bedding and we really talked them up about being "big kids" now.  We got small step stools so they could get into bed easier, made sure I had a bed rail for them, and just went for it one night.  My singleton's transitioned fine, they were used to going to bed in a dark room with the door closed, and nothing changed.  We had a few more issues with the twins, after a couple of weeks they realized they could get up and party once we closed the door.  It took much bribery, much removing of their "guys" (the stuffies they sleep with), and the setting up of a couple of pack n plays in their room as "time out" area's.  Probably took about a month before they started staying in bed again.

 

We lucked out. It was really a non issue for us. Jason had a crib tent before converting (because he is part monkey and was able to climb out really young and no one was ready for toddler beds yet) so maybe that helped. I'm not sure. 
 
Good luck though! And I think doing it well ahead of the baby is a good idea too. 
 
(By the way, I just realized we're only 3wks apart! )

 

It wasn't a big deal at our house, either. We took out any distractions or dangers and then just made the switch. Now, a year later, we do have monkeys playing when they should be sleeping. But it's manageable.

 

Ugh, the taking things out of his room part is what I'm most dreading.  We've just left all the baby stuff in there, car seat, swing, bouncer.  And he looooves to mess with all of it.  Where am I going to put it?!@??  Oh the spare room! That's full of my husbands CRAP.  :headbang:

 

My daughter was out of her crib before turning 2 (she was -and still is- a little monkey).  She did not have difficulty with the transition per se but those initial weeks we had a hard time keeping her in her bed.  She'd be all around her room.  So I started to sit in the room with her but not talk or interact with her and would just quietly put her back to bed each time she got up (ironically this did not happen at night time but at nap time) and eventually she would fall asleep.  It took a couple of weeks for the novelty to pass and she was fine.  My son transitioned at 3 with no problem.  He was more than ready for a toddler bed.

 

 
I do remember with the twins, the first couple weeks after they figured out how to climb out of the cribs, I just sat right outside the door and waited for the pitter patter of little feet.  Went back in, put them back to bed, closed the door, sat right down.  Guess we'll be doing that again.

 

My kids discovered climbing out of their crib around 18 months and they are part monkeys also. We never made a big deal about it and we dropped the mattress to the floor. We put them in sleep sacks at night anyway so we just continued to do that and when they figured out how to open the sleep sacks, we just put the zipper in the back. It's not easy to climb out of the cribs with sleep sacks on. They were in cribs until they turned 3 last month. We took a trip after they turned 3 and they slept in double beds at the hotel. We also keep telling them they are big boy/big girl - and that came back to byte us . When we got back from the beach they said - I am a big boy/girl, I don't want to go in my little bed... So we had to go and get them beds - basically that trip ended up costing us double , but it's not like we didn't see it coming. We got them full beds the weekend after the trip and they love them and so far so good - it's been almost a month. All in all, it was easier than we expected and I think it's because we waited so long. Knowing how they were at 2, I am sure we would have had issues with them getting out of their beds.
 
Being that you need the crib for the baby, I think it's a good idea to move him out before the baby arrives. I hope it goes well.

 

How'd it go last night?  I saw your picture on Facebook. . .

 

He actually did pretty well.  He did get up several times, but not as many as I thought.   I figured one of us would have to camp out in front of his door.  I just put him in for a nap so we'll see how that goes!

 

So we are a week into the switch and I'm ready to throw in the towel and just put the damn side back on his crib.   He normally goes for his nap at noon, it's now 2:10 and he's still awake because he won't stay in his bed.  This is happening every day and every night.  So he's averaging less sleep and every day is becoming unbearable with him.  He's tired and super cranky during the day, throwing 2 year old tantrums every second over every little thing imaginable.  Throw in the mix that I'm pregnant, cranky and tired too and it's not a pretty picture.    It's not as much that I'm tired of the putting him back to bed 2934230 times routine, I'm just so tired of his whiney behavior during the waking hours.   It could just be the age, but the tantrums are typical of his normal "I'm tired" behavior.
 
It doesn't help that I exercised this morning and I'm waiting for him to sleep so I can take a shower because I'm all sweaty and gross.    Pregnancy boob sweat is super gross.
 
Maybe venting will make me feel better! 

 

Can he climb out of a pack n play yet?  What I did was set up the pack n play.  I gave them 2 chances putting them back in bed, then the third time I had to go in, into the pack n play they went.  Minus their paci, stuffies, blankets and pillow.  Started out doing that for 5 mins, gradually increased the time in the pnp over the next week.  My daughter figured it out fast, if she wanted her paci and "guys" (stuffies) she had to stay in bed.  Liam was more stubborn, it took a couple of weeks for him to figure it out.  I left that pnp up and threatened it for the next month, once they were consistently staying in bed I took it down.

 

I'll try the pack n play idea!  I was thinking of bringing it out anyway as a time out spot.
 
My husband put him to bed last night with no problems.  SIGH.  Maybe he just hates me!  :laughing: