Moving Connor to a Bed

We have talked about converting Connor's cot to the toddler bed for a little while now, but everytime we did we decided it just wouldn't work.  We figured he was still waking so often during the night that he would end up wandering around the house and would get even less sleep than he does now.  Not to mention I would then spend all night putting him back in bed.

On Saturday we finally did it!  Worst case scenario it would go so badly we'd be converting it back the next day, so why not.  Not long after Andrew started converting the cot he called me in.  Connor had decided to help daddy and was operating the rachet screwdriver to loosen the screws so the side could come off.  It was so utterly adorable that I took a short video of my little handyman at work.

I should mention we've put a removable bed rail along the length of the bed with a gap at one end so he can get in and out himself but not fall out.

That night Connor was so tired (after a big day out and no midday sleep) that he was crying to go to bed.  We tucked him in with his blanket as usual and crossed our fingers.  He passed out immediately and on his first wake up cried for us to come in but didn't get out of bed.  The second wake up he made a break for it (he was obviously a bit more awake that time) but Andrew collected him and got him back into bed after some cuddles.  I found him the next morning with his door ajar and his feet hanging off the bed, I suspect he'd checked out the hallway at least one more time but decided to go back to bed.

With night 1 pretty successful we decided to stick with it so last night we left his cot as a bed again.  This time we heard some suspicious sounds after a while and when I went in he had climbed up on his change table and got himself stuck.  During the day he can usually get up and down, but I think in the dark he got a little scared.

Connor and Merryn sprung climbing the change table

I put him back to bed, wrapped him in his blanket and this time he went off to sleep.  He woke about 10:30pm but once again just cried out and I went in.  About 1am Andrew found him asleep on his bedroom floor wrapped in his blanket.  We hadn't heard a clunk or cries so we think he just got himself out and and decided the floor looked like an interesting place to sleep.

All-in-all I think it's a brilliant success!  He's not got himself wound up or upset at all and that's probably because he can just get out of bed whenever he wants.  But he's letting us put him back to bed with no protest.  Of course it's only been two nights so far!  The best bit about it is he gets himself up out of bed and starts to play in the morning, meaning I don't have to wake up to grizzling and crawl out of bed to get him up at sparrows fart in the morning.

I am very, very proud of him, he's being such a big boy.  :)