It occurred to me when we were in the cabin in Sterling that Henry might be outgrowing his pack & play. Mostly because he kept waking me up spinning circles in his sleep. He's just now rolling over occasionally, so I figure we have some time before outgrows it by sitting up, but the spinning usually ended up with him waking himself up from hitting the side of the bed. So a new bed it is!
Why didn't we just put him in Thomas' old crib? Good question!
The crib I bought Thomas (second hand) was a drop side crib - which have apparently fallen out of favor. This one had a safety latch that kept the rail from dropping unexpectedly or too far, so I was never all that concerned about using it. But then we moved and somehow the safety mechanism got lost from the bed.
Thomas spent one night in the crib when we first moved in the house and then the whole side fell off when I went to get him out. You want to talk about a panic attack? We found out we could replace the part, but then we got all uneasy about the bed and it just sat there. And is still sitting there, right next to the pack & play bed Henry actually sleeps in. See the side hiding behind the crib in shame??
We finally decided that we would convert the white crib to a toddler bed and give Henry the crib we bought Thomas (also second hand) when the first one failed us. He actually got quite the nice bedroom set - convertible crib, dresser, armoire, shelves and toy chest! After debating it for weeks, we decided to just give up on the white bed completely since we would have to modify it for a toddler bed. We decided to just buy Henry a new crib. Or Thomas a new toddler bed. Decisions, decisions...
We finally settled on seeing how the bed concept would even work with Thomas. We took off the full sides of his current crib and put on the toddler rails. He loved it! He was so excited about his new bed and did a pretty good job staying in it. Yes, we had to pick him up a few times every night and there were the occasional loud thuds when he hit the ground, but overall he slept in the bed and loved it.
We decided it would be easiest (and cheapest!) to just convert this bed back to a crib and get Thomas a new toddler bed. Henry seems to enjoy the larger space as much as Thomas likes his new freedom.
So what bed did Thomas end up with?
Funny story...
We planned to go this weekend to buy him a toddler bed. We figured it would be pretty cheap since we already had the extra mattress. But out of the blue yesterday, my friend up here texted me and asked if we would be interested in her son's old bed they were getting rid of. And the photo of it looked better than what I had been planning on buying:
That's right - a car bed! And not just any car - Lightning McQueen! Thomas was soooooooooo excited when he realized it was his new bed. "Car! Bed! Car-bed!" He's never seen the movie Cars, but the Tow-Mater's Tall Tales was in heavy rotation when I had to distract him to keep his nebulizer on. But no matter what, he would love any sort of car bed!
The bed is actually not a toddler sized bed, it's a real twin bed, so it looks super huge for him. But he didn't seem to mind the extra space. Unless it came to sharing it - when we tried to hang out with him we got a very clear "Get out!" Unfortunately for him, his parents don't listen to such outlandish demands, but in the end he didn't seem to mind that much we stayed.
He even let me climb in with him tonight and read him his books before bed. Then we stargazed with his star projector until I finally tucked him in and told him goodnight. I think the sides on this bed are high enough he shouldn't accidentally roll out, so we should know tomorrow if the ending up on the floor was an accident or intentional. Either way, he adores his new bed and thanks a million to our dear friends and their kiddos for passing it along to us. I am sure it will be treasured by both boys for many years! :)