Big Boy Bed, Part 2: Night 1

well. I'm as surprised as anyone - more surprised, actually, I assure you - that the reprot on the debut of the big boy bed is not that bad. Overall, weighted to the positive, even. I expected a disaster, and we actually ended up with a moderate degree of success. Not that I got any sleep - I was awake all night, anxiously anticipating the *THUMP* and subsequent screams that never materialized. I was so worked up about it I ended up getting up and making a cup of tea at 2:40, hoping that would work. But until a little after 4, I heard....nothing.

Now, we did stack the deck - we basically skipped his nap yesterday and then kept him up an hour and 15 minutes later than normal to the point where he was trying to put himself to bed on the living room rug, handing me back toys and saying "night night. night night". I figured this would make the boundaries of the cage-free sleeping arrangements less tempting to test, and to a degree it seems to have worked. He did wake up crying at around 11, but I went in and rubbed his back for awhile and was able to get him back sleeping and successfully sneak out.

at about 10 past 4, he woke up crying. I found him sitting up in bed, crying to be picked up. He clearly didn't associate that he could just get out, and I wasn't about to illustrate it for him. I got into bed with him, and he tried and failed to go back to sleep. He closed his eyes, but he embarked on the famous routine where he flails around, keeps checking to make sure I'm there, insists on wrapping his hands in my hair, and kicks like a donkey. He kept this up until 5:15, when he fell back asleep again. When I finally managed to nod back off, he was up for the day. Luckily, Andy was kind enough to let me return to my bed and sleep in until 9:45.

Overall, the score: Owen stayed in the new bed all night. He woke up MUCH later than he normally does (with the exception of 11:30, but I'm willing to discount that since I was still up, and he went back to sleep). He still ended up sleeping with a parent - not ideal, but at least not in our bed. He still has this weird, restless, half awake half asleep state that results in screaming if you leave him alone but prevents you from sleeping and also results in severe battery if you stay, which is bad. But on the bright side, I only had to endure it for about an hour rather than 2 or three which is what happens most night.

We still have a long way to go - I have no idea what naptime will bring. He's notoriously more resistant to naps then to bedtime, and might take that opportunity to just climb out. Also, as we have learned many, many times in this great parenting experiement, nothing is generalizable from one experience. We'll see how it's going in a week.

And ultimately, it can still be classified as an overall fail because I still ended up in the bed with him - not sleeping. But I really think it's a much milder fail than oh, say, the past year and a half. I call this making progress.