Vrrrroom Changes

A casual pose showing off his cool factor after his first night in a big boy bed.

Friday night was Reagan's first time in his new race car bed.  Richard got off from work early, and while Reagan napped, we brought the bed in from the garage to wipe it down in preparation for the big night ahead.  When Reagan woke up from his nap, we excitedly showed him the bed (which he'd seen in our garage over the past few weeks) where it sat in our entryway.  His reaction was FAR from what we expected.  He began crying, screaming, pulling at, and even hitting the bed.  He kept saying, "No, no, no.  Car, car, car."  He could not be calmed down.  I asked Richard to move the bed while I tried to help Reagan sort through his emotions... hard to do with a child who literally cannot be reasoned with.  Putting it in Reagan's room made matters far worse.

Going to the zoo for an hour helped calm him down and he returned to the house a bit more cheerful.  I showed him his bed again, offering to let him eat a cookie and watch "Herbie" on it.  That went great!  He was jumping up and down, repeatedly saying "car", and seemed thrilled about his new bed.  Then I started moving furniture around while he continued sitting on the bed.  Bad idea.  This started a new wave of erratic behavior.  Richard got him out of the room and distracted with a remote control car, but that only helped for a little while.  I came in and set up a few videos for him to watch on Youtube, and then came time for our first night of him sleeping in the bed.
 

We have a regular routine we go through at bedtime, and I think doing everything like usual, with only a different bed (but same mattress, sheets, stuffed animals, etc.), really helped us out.  Reagan was reaching for his car bed at the end of our nightly routine!  His first night was an amazing success!  Since then, he has spent 3 nights and 3 afternoons in his bed (and is currently adding another night onto that track record).  I've reminded him each time that he is to stay in his bed, and he has obeyed except for the beginning of his first nap.  However, having a two-way monitor fixed that quickly.  Just telling him to "get back in bed" over the microphone worked the two times he was out of bed that day.

I am amazed at how successful this change-over has been for us.  Since his crib is going to the new baby girl, I thought it was important for us to do the bed switch at this point so he can have time to adjust to one big change before another one arrives.  He has done splendidly.  We've been blessed with a wonderful first born.  Can't wait to see what's in store for us in the next 7 weeks!