A big bed for Eliot

Moving Eliot into a bed hadn't really been on my radar.  He hasn't tried to climb out of his crib or shown any other sign that he was done with it.  But the other day Ikea had a big bed and mattress sale, so the time was right.  I took the boys to Ikea and we checked them out.  Eliot was very excited about the prospect of getting a 'big boy bed' and was delighted to climb up and test out the beds they had on display.  We chose our bed and then went home to make our arrangements.  Most of you know that Spencer has been in Paris since just before Easter and won't be home until the first week of June.  The sale would have been over before his return so there was no waiting.  A friend was willing to stay with the boys so I could dash over and buy the bed.

My original plan was to assemble it that evening with Eliot's 'help' after Peter had gone to bed.  He enjoys helping out with those types of projects and I thought it would help him feel more ownership of the bed.  Opening the instruction booklet, however, I discovered that Ikea recommended that two adults assemble it.  When it comes to assembling furniture Eliot probably counts as -0.25 people, so that probably wasn't going to work.  After I put him to bed in his crib (for the last time--*sniff*--hopefully) I got to work and put the bed together by using the couch as my 'second person' to hold the pieces steady.

The next morning Eliot and Peter were delighted to discover the bed in the living room and spent the morning playing on it.  We moved it into the boys' bedroom and that night Eliot went to sleep in his big bed like a champ.  He still takes his afternoon nap in the crib (while Peter sleeps in the Pack n Play that's set up in our room) but at night it's all about the big bed.  And of course Peter has had no problem adjusting to the crib.

In these next two pictures the room was actually quite dark so I had to overexpose the shots to be able to see them.  Little sweethearts.