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| Miles sleeping like a sloth, so relaxed in his new bed! |
Big Boy in a Big Bed! That's right, Mr. Miles is finally out of his crib and in a real bed!! For months now we've been talking about transitioning him into a bed but honestly, Zach and I just weren't ready. He was. It was obvious. At school he sleeps in a mattress like all the other kids. He can get in and out when he needs to....and he does. Whenever we visit his friends, he likes to pretend he's sleeping in their beds. He gets under the covers, closes his eyes and everything. At home he loves jumping on our bed and pretending we're all sleeping together. Ella wants to jump and roll around the bed while Miles tries to get her to lay her head down on the pillow and go to sleep. He's always been a very good sleeper and now that he's bigger, he even tells us when he wants to get in his crib. We'll read some books and turn off the light and while I like to sit and hug him for a few minutes because he's so yummy....he wants me to just put him in his crib. Because he wants to sleep!
Yes, he's been ready for a while, all the signs have been there and though we were aware of it, we've been holding back for our own selfish reasons.
I mean, what if he gets up in the middle of the night and comes to wake us. Or if he gets up super early in the morning, like he used to do (at 5am) and wakes us. Ella is sleeping through the night, waking up around 6:30am and Miles gets up around 7am. After three and a half years we are finally getting some decent sleep!!! We don't want to lose that! We need our sleep and change is hard for everyone....not just the kids!!! We don't want to go back to night wakings and weird sleep situations. And what about in the morning? Are we going to be dealing with nasty, messy clean-ups? Miles wakes up with some incredibly full poopy diapers almost every morning. What if he has a particularly full and runny morning constitution and he gets out of bed and on the couch or on the rug and drags his shit with him??? Literally. That's just gross and too much information, I know, I'm sorry. But these are the things I've been thinking about. This is what's been holding me back from making the switch. But today we took the plunge. I don't know exactly what it was that made us both wake up and decide today was the day to buy Miles a bed, but we did.
Zach and I dropped Miles off at school and drove out to IKEA with Ella and together the three of us found a perfect bed for him. It's low to the ground so he can get in and out by himself and it has a half rail just in case he moves around too much at night. Ella loved his bed and played on it for a good 20 minutes while at the store. We got home, Zach built it, we washed the sheets and set it all up. When Miles finally saw it this afternoon, he knew exactly what it meant! I could just tell. He was so excited, grinning from ear to ear and climbed right up on his bed, pulled the covers over himself and pretended to be asleep. It was precious. I still wasn't too sure that he'd go to sleep easily tonight, so I was expecting a long bedtime routine, with lots of jumping on the bed or climbing on and off before he finally fell asleep. I was so wrong! After his bath, we went into his room and when he saw his bed again, exclaimed, "Oh wow!"....as if he'd forgotten and once again remembered his cool new bed. I let him pick out his pajama and after a little fight, I finally dressed him. He was already in his bed and put his head on the pillow and pretended to go to sleep. I said, "Okay goodnight Miles" and as I went to turn off the lights he climbed down from the bed and went over to the couch in his room, where we always read books before bed. So I picked out three books, sat on the couch with him, Zach walked in the room and we read. At the end of the third book, Miles had finished his milk and did the "all done" sign. So I closed the book, said "All done" and as I went to turn off the light, he climbed off the couch, onto his bed and under the covers. He smiled at us and closed his eyes!!!!! We turned off the light, said I Love You and walked out. All Done!! That was it! It took about 15 minutes tops!!
We could not believe it!!! That was soooo easy!! Our little boy in a big bed for the first time ever! He's doing it, passing another milestone, we're all transitioning into yet another phase. Amazing! It was a little over a year ago that we moved Miles into his current room in preparation for Ella's birth. I was so nervous that he wouldn't like his new room, that he'd be scared because he was far away from us. I was nervous that we wouldn't hear him when he cried or that we couldn't get to him fast enough if he needed us. I was sad that he wasn't in the room closest to us anymore. I was the one having a hard time transitioning.....he did just fine. And here we are today, just a few days shy of Ella's first birthday and we're going through another big transition with Miles. One that's been a long time coming, one that he's been sooo ready for and one that I, again, was holding on to for just a little too long. It's a well known fact that kids have trouble with transitions. They say kids with Down syndrome have an even harder time adjusting to transitions. Well, what about the parents? Have there been any studies done about that? I doubt I'm the only mom out there who wrestles with these transitions. Or am I? Either way, here I am, proud of my son's independence, his growth. Excited that he's doing so well and knows so much. Nervous about how tomorrow will be. We'll see who transitions better...him or me!
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| Miles is such a deep sleeper that he didn't wake up when we went into his room and turned on the light to take these photos! |
PS....Miles did wake up with a huge, very loose poopy diaper that smeared all over his new mattress. Yes, we put a cover on the mattress, but he managed to get it just in the spot where the mattress wasn't covered!! At least he didn't run around the house getting everything dirty. No...he stayed in bed, lying down talking to himself until one of us came in the room....to find a stinky mess!! Thank goodness for washing machines!!
