It’s time I realize my first baby is a toddler. In the past few months he’s hit major milestones — ditching the bottle, starting to toilet train, and transitioning from a crib to a toddler bed. Now that he’s ALMOST two and a half AND he’s a “big brother” it’s time to start treating him less like a baby and more like the toddler that he is. This is no easy feat. I’m struggling with letting my baby go and accepting that this strong-willed and determined toddler is taking over his body.

First the bottle:

Around the beginning of December, we decided to stop giving him a bottle of milk in the morning and before bed. I know. I know. It should have been done when he turned a year old. I KNOW. But he loved it, it was soothing, I felt good that he was getting milk, and his bedtime routine was PERFECT. He’d dress for bed, brush his teeth and sit with Sean in a dark room to drink his bottle, then Sean would carry him upstairs to his crib, set him down and we’d see him in about 12 hours. Why would anyone want to mess with that?

But then, I got mom-shamed for letting him drink from a bottle… still. Because I care about peer pressure and what people are saying about me (…) we stopped giving him a bottle — in the morning first. I started pouring his milk into a sippy cup (he would drink it on the way to school). And then one day we told him we had to throw away the bottles so we could get new bottles for the new baby (she wasn’t here yet). He was okay with this and never asked for a bottle again. Although, now he refuses to drink milk. So, I’m not sure it was really a win. But it was done. One “baby” thing gone.

Then the crib:

At the same time as ditching the bottle, we started toilet training. I could do an entire post on toilet training (successes and failures) but that’s for another time. With toilet training comes the necessity of having access to a toilet. During all parts of the day and night. Clearly, if he’s in a crib, he can’t bring himself to the toilet. So I started really thinking about how this would all work. And came to the unfortunate realization that we had to mess with his bedtime, nightly routine and sleep schedule.

For almost two months, we geared ourselves up for transitioning him out of a crib. We went back and forth about when the right time was. During school vacation? A weekend? Before Lola? After Lola? January? Beginning of February? But ultimately we decided once we had everything ready, we’d just do it. 

A crib to a bed:

The first thing we did was make sure his room was safe. He doesn’t have that much in his room to begin with but he has a dresser that wasn’t anchored to the wall, electrical outlets, a humidifier, lamps, etc. So we made sure everything was safe and secure. We also put up a gate at the top of stairs which are right outside his room.

The next thing we did was pick up a side rail. His crib is one that transitions into a toddler bed and then later into a larger bed but I never bought the toddler rail for it and now they don’t sell it. I’m actually okay with this because this rail is one that we can take with us when we travel. And then Lola can use it when she’s ready. So I think it’s more usable. We also picked out new bedding. I was torn by this because he REALLY wanted Mickey Mouse bedding, but I couldn’t find any that was subtle and NOT primary colors. I really dislike primary colors. So ultimately, I chose the bedding. (ha) but he loves it, too.

The final thing we did was choose a day for this to all happen and stayed committed. We told Javi the night before that it would be his last night in his crib and in the morning we told him that when he got home from school, he’d have a “big bed”. He was PUMPED. And he remembered. So, last Friday, February 23rd, was Javi’s first night in his new bed.

He’s done well so far. For how nervous we were about the transition, it’s been better than expected. The first night, he went right to sleep. The second night, it took 4 hours of telling him to go back to his bed (I may or may not have mentioned to him that if he got out of bed one more time, he was going back in a crib) and the third night he went straight to bed. The last few nights, he’s gotten up once or twice, but when we tell him to go back to bed, he does. The mornings are a bit different since now he can just get out of bed. We were spoiled by a child who enjoyed jumping in his crib and singing to himself for an hour each morning while we slowly woke up. But now? He’s excited to leave his bed, and get into our bed to jump and sing WITH us. Sometimes at 5AM. It’s different for sure, but he’s so happy, it’s worth it.

Here’s a little video:

Javi sees his new bed from Jasmine Duffy on Vimeo.