..finn's a big boy now..

......well, sort of. i guess if, when you hear that phrase, you think of potty training, then no, finn isn't a big boy yet. but to me he is a big boy bc as of two weeks ago, he is sleeping in a big boy bed!

many people have told me to keep your kids in their crib for as long as they'll sleep in it. i fully agreed with this notion of thought, mainly because the crib keeps them contained. i always assumed that once a child was no longer in their crib, you could kiss naps goodbye since they would have the liberty to get out of their bed and play with all the things in their room. since finn has always been such an easy-going, chill child, and also because he has never attempted to climb out of his crib, i assumed we had at least another year until we had to start considering the possibility of switching over to a toddler or twin bed.

i assumed wrong.

as of monday, april 22nd, finn figured out how to climb out of his crib, and decided that he was no longer content sleeping in it. long story short, my brother  and mom were staying with us one night - finn woke up in the middle of the night crying. so rather than letting him cry it out, like we normally would, we brought him to bed with us so that zac and my mom wouldn't have to listen to him scream. they stayed with us two nights in a row, which must have been just enough time for finn to realize how much he likes cuddling with mom and dad. by night three (when we no longer had company and could let him cry it out) he screamed for close to an hour, when all the sudden we heard our door creak open, and in walked finn, tears streaming down his face.

come naptime the next day, i didn't think i'd have a problem putting him down, because finn has always gone down for naps pretty well. again, i was wrong! the second i put him in his crib, he started crying and climbed right out. almost as if he was afraid of his crib? it was weird. so i brought him into our bed and laid with him while he drank his bottle and drifted off to sleep. he took his regular 3 1/2 hour nap in our bed, which gave me hope that if we entertained the idea of a toddler bed at this point, he may still take his naps for me.

that night, i had lance remove the side panel of finn's crib, turning it into a toddler bed. looking back, it is so weird how fast this all happened! both lance and i asked for advice on facebook and a lot of people mentioned different ways we could keep him contained in a crib. i think i just knew in my gut that it wouldn't work for finn, and that it was time to get him in a bed.

right after lance removed the side panel, finn became super excited about his "new" bed. as part of his crib bedding, i bought the toddler quilt. it has just been draped over his rocker all this time, until now (i'm actually glad we're getting some use out of it!). i "made" his bed for him, and the little pillow that matches his bedding at the head of the bed so that he could rest his head on it. he kept climbing into bed, pulling the quilt up over him, getting out, then repeating the whole process over again. pretty cute, right?

it was cute up until bedtime. 8 o'clock came, and finn wanted nothing to do with his bed, unless i was in it, snuggling with him. lance was gone, and thankfully sam was fast asleep in his crib, so i was left to try and figure out how to get finn to sleep in his new big boy bed.

i cuddled with him for over an hour, hoping that once he drifted off i'd be able to sneak out. nope! every time i moved away from him, he inched closer to me. i swear he would be fast asleep, i'd move one tiny inch and he'd immediately wake up and close in on me!! as much as i knew that what i was doing (cuddling with him) was a big no-no, i have to say i really enjoyed it! ha. i just sat there, thinking of how big he seems now, and how crazy it is to me that he is already in a toddler bed. i thought of those first few days and weeks of his life - how tiny he seemed in his crib. all those thoughts of being a new mommy came rushing back to me, and i couldn't help but sob as i laid there with him in my arms. it actually provided me with some closure, and in a way, felt like i was celebrating him growing up. :) however, after an hour had passed, and my mourning period was over, i'd had enough and decided we needed a change of plan. after all, i have never ever been the type of mom who believes in providing crutches just to get your kids to sleep (you know, rocking, nursing, holding them until they fall asleep, etc..). finn has his blanket and sam has his bunny, and that's about the only thing i'm comfortable with letting them rely on at bedtime. ;)

we have these child-lock type things on a few of our doors, so i took one of those off the bathroom door and put it on the outside of finn's door. that kept him in his room for, oh, about 45 seconds. he was pressing down so hard on the door-handle on the inside of his room, that the child-proof thing popped right off. ha! so we waited until dad got home. he took the actual handle off the inside of finn's door, making it nearly impossible for finn to open the door. we decided at this point that this was the only way.

finn screamed louder and harder than i've ever heard him scream in his whole life. it was as if the incredible hulk was inside his room, in a serious rage. i so wish we had a camera in there so we could see what exactly he was doing. we heard lots of banging and slamming himself into things, but we didn't know what. lance and i sat in our bedroom, laughing. haha i felt so terrible, and it was a horrible thing to listen to as a mother - especially since finn kept crying out for me, which he never does (he always cries for dada), but at the same time there was nothing that we could do, except turn a sad situation into a comical one. we knew we were doing what was best for him, so that helped us endure it.

after ten minutes of that, he just all the sudden stopped. lance said, "i think he's done," and my response was, "there is no way!" there have been night's where we've had to let finn cry it out in his crib, and he's seriously cried for over an hour. this hasn't happened very often, but it has happened. so i was just sure he had more in him. well, lucky me, i was wrong again! that was it. we went and checked on him about an hour later - mostly to make sure he was alive, for heaven's sake! - and he was fast asleep in his bed. sweetest thing i ever did see! :)

i checked on him at about 4 am, and he was still in his crib, however when we went in to check on him the next morning (well, later that morning if you want to get technical ;)), he was on the floor. he must have fallen off the bed. he was so happy when he woke up, and my heart couldn't help but swell with pride. :) all morning he "practiced" getting in and out of his bed, tucking himself under the covers, etc. it was so cute. that day we went and got him a new sheet and pillow (mostly to make his new bed cuter!), but it sort of felt like we were rewarding a milestone.

i was pretty worried about nap time, and i could tell finn was too. 12:30 came, and he didn't cry, but he seemed kinda nervous. i changed his diaper, gave him his milk, he whined for about 30 seconds and that was that. took a 4 hour nap that day! seriously, this kid is a dream.

it has been two weeks now, and we haven't had any problems. finn loves for us to tuck him in and give him and "eess" (kiss) before naps and bedtime. we also started kneeling at his bed and saying prayers before both (his idea to do it at nap time, not mine!). and sometimes, when he's up in the morning, he'll knock at the door, telling us he's awake and it's time to come get him. :) seriously, it's the cutest thing ever.

once again, finn has proven to be the world's most easy-going, and dare i say, easiest child. he just rolls with the punches, this one, and i'm ever so grateful to him for making what i always assumed would be a difficult transition, a very easy one. like i said, dream child. :)