Transition to toddler bed

Kind of a continuation from my earlier post today but different question. My DS has climbed out of his crib 3 times now and surprised me. LOL He doesn't do it in the middle of the night or anything but I'm thinking I need to start locking the gate in front of their room. DD still has no idea how to climb out. They share a room and she was SO upset when he got up from his nap and just left the room. LOL Poor girl. SO I am thinking that I just cannot transition one and not the other. We have no way to separate them so they'll have to continue sharing a room. They sleep fantastic now. I'm SO scared that going to an "open" bed will ruin all of that and my quiet time I so desperately need to keep my sanity will be gone. LOL Their cribs convert to toddler beds so I think we're going to just do that. I don't think I want to waste the $ on a crib tent. Does anyone have any tips? Anything to start the transition, make it go smoother? I'd love to hear any ideas!! Like I said I have a gate already up on their room so I'll start using that. Other than that they have toys all over the place. LOL

 

Hi Lisa,
Are you sick of hearing from me yet? lol!
One thing I forgot to mention that we did was take all of the toys out of their room, to make their room a 'sleep' are not 'play' area...however when they are awake they are allowed to have toys in there.
But we went through alot of 'exploring' of the contents of their dresser's etc...
Good luck, I hope it's a smooth transition for you!
reb

 

LMAO I could never be sick of hearing from you!! That is a lot of toys to remove from their room! LOL Maybe I'll put their closet door back on and put a child safety door cover on it. Then I can put all the toys in there at night. I already got some really cool drawer locks for their dresser after the 20th time they emptied it. LOL We'll see how tonight goes but unfortunately I think this weekend may be it.

 

OMG, are they actually old enough to be in big kids' beds! It seems like yesterday they were just born!! Lisa, I think you just talk it up for a few days before you actually transition. They are almost 3 and should do fine, but just get them excited. I'd say take them to the store, let them pick out some new bedding if you can do that, give them a little ownership of the whole thing. I'd also say to start a little sticker chart once you transition. Every night they stay in their beds, they get a sticker and at the end of the week they get a special treat if they can get all their stickers for the week (or so many stickers anyway). Good luck! They're so big now!!

 

I know we haven't quite made it to this forum, but hopefully it's okay to post.

I switched my boys 2 months ago at 22 months. Riley could climb out, but Wyatt hadn't tried yet. I figured it was coming though. It started while on vacation, so as soon as we got home we took down their crib. They had shared a crib, so we bought 2 toddler beds MONTHS ago for an awesome deal on Craigslist. Anyways, we put their new beds up. I thought for sure it was going to be a complete disaster, but it hasn't been! Like mentioned before, we removed all toys. We put them in their closet and we have a closet latch on there now so they can't open it. All of their dresser drawers now have magnetic latches and the 1 door on the changing table. We learned quick that I'd find EVERYTHING out of the drawer. Oh and Riley loves to put things like his pacifier away so I would get the screaming because he'd thrown them into a drawer he couldn't get them back out of. At night time they only have their blankets, pillow pets, and a few stuffed animals. To be honest, they don't always fall asleep in their beds, so about an hour after falling asleep I go back in and put them back in their beds. They continue to sleep there the rest of the night. We also installed a camera in their room so we don't have to sit by their door and listen in on them. We can see what they're doing, where they fall asleep, etc. They still go "down" for bed at 7pm, but don't usually fall asleep till 8pm because they do run around like crazy before finally passing out on the floor. However, they do still sleep until 8 or 9am. If they're playing in their room during the day (like if I need to shower, etc) I do bring their toys back out. Nap time is still 1-4pm and doesn't usually take as long to fall asleep, but I do have to move them back into their beds. I figure eventually they'll learn that their beds are more comfortable than the floor

 

good luck!! I had a disaster of a time trying two or three times to transition.

#1 you may get away with not transitioning both at the same time... it took my dd a MUCH longer time to be mature enough. keeping her in the crib was very helpful while my ds figured out the toddler bed.

#2 yes, I would take all the distractions away from the room. they are just little... and it's really a lot to think that they will resist a fun toy for sleeping. my kids find the littlest thing to keep themselves from sleeping. like even taking off their dust ruffles when I had taken all the toys out of their room...

#3 if they are not tired it won't be an easy transition to be free in the room.. mine climb the sides of the cribs (which are very TALL compared to short true toddler beds), and move their cribs at will... they will move over by the window so they can look out and see outside... we have VERY active kids! ugh!

at 2 yr 7 mo I wouldn't probably waste money on tents either...good luck!! I hope it goes smooth for you. you got great suggestions on making it a fun transition.

 

LMAO Rachel - I know! Can they be this old already! Although I'm constantly amazed at how old yours are! Time goes too fast!

Thank you everyone for the great tips! They will really help. I think I'll definitely put the closet door back on (that's their "toy" space...it's walk-in) and pack up all the toys at sleeping time and put the door knob cover on. He didn't climb out today so I'm going to attempt to wait until after vacation (we leave in 2 weeks) before transitioning them. We'll see how that goes. LOL It's definitely about time. I talked to them today about giving them "big kid" beds and Walker sounded interested but Jocelyn got this very worried look on her face. LOL SO we may transition them one at a time if she hates it. I think when it's "time" we'll do them together but see how it goes. She doesn't seem to mind the crib but gets mad when her brother can climb out and she can't. I'll cross my fingers all will go well!