Just like his sister did when she was a wee one (and until she was a bit over 2), Reier sleeps snuggled up next to me at night. We have a bed rail to keep him from rolling out and a huge bed, so there is enough space for the three of us. Everything was working out just dandy until one afternoon in mid-March when Reier was taking one of his very few naps by himself in the big bed. We have a monitor right next to him so we can get to him quickly when he wakes, but on that fateful day, he decided to wake up silently and crawl right off the edge of the bed. Luckily, our bed is only about 12 inches off the ground, but I heard a loud thump followed by screaming. The scream of your terrified and hurt baby is enough to make your adrenaline explode right out of you and I dashed up the stairs with my Dad who was closer to the stairs than I was (my parents were visiting that day). He got to Reier first and handed him to me. I think Reier calmed down faster then I did, but we started that day concocting a plan that would make it possible for him to nap in a crib if he ever decided to nap out of the wrap again.
We set up the crib in Dahlia's room, now called the "kid's room", and shuffled the furniture around to try to make it work. No matter how we rearranged it, it looked like the stock room of a children's furniture store. We were about to head down to Ikea for some bunk beds when my Dad suggested that he and Nathan design and build a loft bed over the dresser. For two guys who like to build things, this seemed like the best option, and Nathan was thrilled to be going to the lumber yard instead of Ikea. $80 and 3 hours later, the coolest ladder bed in the world was assembled in the kid's room and Dahlia was pleased as can be to get to sleep up high. Now our little climber has a ladder in her room to scale all day long. One of the best parts about it that can't be seen in the pictures is the cave/fort/clubhouse under the bed in the space behind the dresser. Dahlia has stashed all of her "big girl" toys and things back there where Reier can't get to them. Now she can play tinker toys in peace without little brother knocking over her creations.
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| Twin bed, crib, dresser, bookshelf (off to the left, just out of the shot), and a rocking chair awkwardly in the middle of the room. Not cool. |
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| The building crew hard at work in the driveway. |
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| Dahlia dons a ballet costume for the inaugural climb up and down the ladder. Oh man, she was so thrilled! |
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| This picture doesn't show it very well, but there is quite a bit of floor space for playing. The secret clubhouse is entered by crawling under the bottom ladder rung, or by squeezing between the ladder and rocking chair. |
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| Too excited to sleep...almost. |
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| Reier took his first nap in the crib 3 or 4 days after we had it set up. It is also a great place to put him with a pile of toys while I run to the bathroom, get Dahlia out of the bathtub, read her a book, or any number of other reasons why I might not want him crawling out of sight or getting into everything for a few minutes. Who knows when he might spend more than an hour of his night time sleep there. I supposed we have plenty of time for that transition. I'll enjoy my little snuggly guy while he is still little and wants to snuggle with his Mama. He'll want his own big boy bed soon enough! |
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