Ethan moves into his new bed

Ethan had some milestone moments over the past weekend, and it was something that struck both Leah and I with a sense of pride and shock. Since Ethan was becoming the huge expert at escaping the crib, we thought it was bed to do away with it and move Ethan into his new bunk bed. There was no point keeping the crib up since the point was to keep him on one place. Now that he could escape at will, the purpose of keeping it in the room was no longer valid. So we took the crib apart and put it into the storage room until Jonathan needed it. So with the new bunk bed we got him in December already in place. It was time to move our eldest son from the crib to the big boy bed and see what would happen.

We had expected to get a bit of a fight, especially after everything that happened over the last week with the crib. Instead, Ethan took the bunk bed a lot better than we thought he would. The first time we put him in, was when he fell asleep in the living room around his nap time. I carried him in and he slept well, and it was weird to see Ethan come out on his own with out needing any help to get out of bed. Something I’ll have to get used to now, cause he can let himself out now and that little bit of control has been taken away but I am confident Leah and I will adjust and do all right. What surprised us is that later that night (Saturday) Ethan actually got tired to the point where he went to his room and put himself to sleep! To say that we were shocked by this is the understatement of the year. We couldn’t believe it and were sticking our heads in the door to have a peek, and sure enough… Ethan was lying down and snoozing away on his pollow, but with no blanket. When he was sound asleep, I came in the room and tucked him in with a blanket.

One interesting thing about the new bed is that Ethan has been waking up bright and earlier than usual. While that is a little tiring, you gotta take the bad with the good and the fact that he’s seeing himself to bed is a good thing. Despite all these good things that are going on, Ethan is still showing signs that the terrible twos. Last night he showed a little nasty side as he tossed his supper away with a full bowl of casserole hitting the floor and making a mess. We didn’t replace his portion, since he never wanted to eat it, and instead gave him some cereal later in the night (healthy alternatives, not rewards) and he ate that before going to bed. we don’t force him to eat anything he doesn’t seem comfy chowing down, but don’t give him anything better as a reward him for tossing away food wouldn’t be fair to us and to whoever cooked the meal. Usually I give him something later like Rice Crispies or Life cereal as the typical dinner substitute. We have to feed him something cause neither Leah nor I want to wake up at 2 or 3 am to feed Ethan cause his tummy is rumbling. One problem we also have is even when Ethan eats the food we serve him, he still tosses the bowl/plate away from his highchair, just to let us know he’s finished. I keep joking that he much have been greek in a past life, since they toss dishes all the time and it’s realitively okay.

As for Jonathan, my youngest boy started to smile over the weekend… which would warm any heart. He’s got an amazing smile to boot. The little guy also got to spend a little time on the floor with Ethan. We usually put Jonathan on the floor for some belly time to help his neck muscles among other things, and while he was on the floor, Ethan came in and laid on the floor on his belly with him, looking the little guy right in the face. It was a cute moment, and Ethan is showing more signs of warming up to his little brother. It’s so sweet and rather mature of Ethan to do since most kids his age are usually jealous of new babies, but he seems very accepting. I’m very proud of my eldest son and how he’s doing with this.

Whether it was the fact it was a new bed, with a nice new soft matress… or maybe it’s the spiderman bed spread that Ethan got into. Whatever it was, Ethan is smitten over his new bed and Leah and I couldn’t be more relieved. Now if only we could take care of this dish tossing problem we’d be fine. What can I say… Rome wasn’t build in a day.

Peter