Some Said This Day Would Never Come

Finny has slept in his big boy bed for the last three nights!

I have been in no rush to move Fin out of our bed - partly because I feel like I never get to see the kids since I'm at work all day, partly because it's really sweet to snuggle with him, and partly because when we did try about a year ago, I ended up being up with each kid 2-3 times a night.

But a few nights ago, I'd gotten Greta down in her room and as usual, returned to find Fin and Dave reading and cuddling and ready for bed. We turned out the lights and tried to get Fin to settle down. He did the usual asking for more books, more stories, etc., then he suddenly said, "Let's get our Heat Suit Batman costumes so we can get through the lava to my big boy bed and sleep there!"

Um, huh? (Yes, we have played LOTS of Lego Batman in our house. They finished the game last weekend and have now moved on to Lego "IndiAN and Jones".)

I asked if he wanted to sleep in his big boy bed and he said yes, jumped out of bed and opened the armoire. At this point, I thought he was just stalling bedtime, so I asked what he was doing and he said, "I'm getting my Heat Suit! My room is all filled up with lava and we need the suits to get to the bed."

I watched with amusement as he pretended to put on a suit to protect him from the lava and then did a little tightrope walk at the foot of the bed. But when he headed into his room, I realized he meant it, so I jumped up and followed him.

He crawled right into bed, snuggled under the covers and was asleep within 10 minutes. Bedtime usually takes 30-45 minutes after turning the lights off.

Once he was asleep, I got up (as usual), did some stuff around the house and then went to sleep in my own bed. At one point in the night he started coughing and I bolted out of bed because he wasn't next to me and I was very confused. An hour or so later he had a bad dream and started calling out in his sleep, so I went to him, rubbed his head (he was still asleep) and he rolled over and slept peacefully.

The only drawback was when he woke up. I was already nursing Greta in my bed and suddenly heard a big whine from his room and the accusation, "You were supposed to stay with me all night!!!!!"

Dave and I decided to just tell him I was nursing Greta and that's why I wasn't there with him rather than let him know he'd done all night by himself already. On the one hand, I wanted him to know he could do it (and HAD done it) but he also seemed to feel really betrayed by me not being there, so we decided to just be vague about it.

I had no idea if this was a one time request to sleep in his own bed, but that night, after books and stories, he just climbed right out of our bed, walked into his room and announced, "You have to stay here with me all night this time."

That night went great (aside from me sleeping in a twin bed with a wiggledy three year old) and he actually woke up giggling to himself. He laughed, rolled over and said, "I had a dream with balloons!" Then he announced he had to pee, got up to do so and went straight to the other room to play with Legos.

Last night was night three. Again bedtime went very quickly in his own bed. Dave and I debated whether I should stay or not. We don't want him to feel like he's being tricked when he sleeps in his own bed, but we also want this transition to stick. (Well, part of me wants it. Part of me misses my snuggle buggle boy. LOL But I have to let him grow up sometime and if he's ready now then I have to be, too, right?)

I laid with him until he was asleep, then got up to do things around the house. I went to sleep in my own bed, but he had two nightmares again. The first one just had him crying in his sleep, but when I went to comfort and hug him, he started screaming, "Don't DO that!" over and over until I just rubbed his back, then he was deeply asleep again in about 2 seconds. A few hours later he was crying again, so at that point I just crawled into bed and slept next to him to keep him comforted.

I did tell him this morning that he spent most of the night alone in his big boy bed and he was very surprised and proud of himself when he said, "I DID?!?!?" It was pretty cute.

So, I think this thing is actually happening. I'm still a little sad about him growing up so much so quickly, but then again - he is almost 4 and we've been cosleeping this whole time. I knew he'd want his own space eventually. My only concern right now is that he seems to have more nightmares and sleeps poorly when he's on his own. But I also have no interest in cosleeping in a twin bed.

My little boy is getting all growed up!