The other day I read a parenting article about switching a child to a toddler bed. It said once a kid hits around 18 months (check) and about 3 feet in height (check) they may be ready to switch. 

Even though I know the time is coming soon, I am so afraid to switch my little guy into a toddler bed.

Right now we are in a fairly good groove of sleep. He will sleep about 10-11 hours in a row at night, and I get around 2-3 hours during nap time. The only problem is that it is getting harder to get him to WANT to go to sleep.

Every bedtime/naptime is becoming a mini battle. What used to be a simple read a book and rock, is turning into me having to turn off all of the lights in his room even if he isn’t rocking in my lap. He will still be playing with blocks and I just have to turn off the light. He won’t leave his toys no matter how many times I say it’s time for bed. What’s more is he will sometimes run to the lamp and turn it back on. Then he will lay in his crib and talk/laugh to himself. He does this while rolling around and clapping FOR AN HOUR until he finally passes out.

Amazingly, my tall toddler has never tried climbing out.

He easily scales the couch and table (and we have one of those tall tables) but for some reason, he hasn’t tried the crib yet. I know if he did, he would easily escape. But right now, he seems to think being in a crib means he can’t come out or even try.

I know the day to switch him is quickly approaching but I’m really trying to put it off as much as I can. Once we turn his crib into its toddler bed counterpart, I think we will open a whole new can of worms.

I have visions of him turning on his bedroom light and just playing in his room ALL NIGHT LONG. I’ll see it all on my video monitor too; the slow destruction of his room that I will have to pick up the next day. The books will be pulled from the shelf, the clothes will be pulled out of the drawers, and the blocks will be thrown all over. He will attempt scaling his bookshelf, because why not, and if I’m really unlucky he will somehow get the butt cream from the top of his changing table and smear it everywhere. I’m going to end up sleeping in his room to prevent this I just know it!

The only other thing he hasn’t figured out yet is turning doorknobs to open doors. Luckily we don’t have levers on the doors because those he can easily open. However, I feel confident that once he is in a toddler bed, he will suddenly want to come out of his room and thus have the incentive to learn how to turn the knobs and open the doors. Then I worry that he will run around the house doing goodness knows what by himself. Or he will just keep coming into mommy’s and daddy’s room and we will never sleep again.

Unfortunately for me, I know the day is coming. There is nothing I can do to stop it. All I can do is hope that it won’t be as bad as I think it will be. Hopefully, my imagination is worse than what will actually be. Honestly, it could be fun to have my kid run into my room and want to cuddle at night. Until then, I’ll just keep living that crib life as long as I can.

Veronica DeSantos Ryan
Hi Austin mamas! I am Veronica DeSantos Ryan, a mama from Round Rock. My husband and I moved to the area in 2014 and love every minute of it. Our baby Oliver (May 2016) is the light of our life and we are enjoying every minute with him. After spending seven years teaching, I decided that I wanted to be a stay at home mom and teacher of life to my little boy. As a family we love running with Ollie in his jogger stroller, having picnics outside, playing with our two dogs and exploring all the the Austin area has to offer! I am also a performing princess for Lexi's Little Princesses Princess company, a teaching artist at The Georgetown Palace Theatre, and a member of the singing group The Vintage Dreams. I am an avid reader, piano player, singer, and occasional actress in community theater, and have recently been published in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Miracles and More.

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