Sunday, November 20, 2005

Big Boy

The Big Boy Bed is a Big Deal to young boys and parents. We (shar and I) have no clue what we are doing, so we seek the wisdom of our friends who also have no clue. Together we are raising a zoo full of animals. Anyway, it was time to move Blake into a Big Bed. How do you do this? Every kid is different and no one rule works for the mass majority, so you try the way that you think is good and when it does not work you try something else.

We got a cool antique iron bed from our friends at church the Koch's (Coke's). We painted it and moved it into Blakes room, and set it up next to the crib. Blake thought it was great to play on, but no chance was he sleeping there. This routine started last Saturday night. On Tuesday afternoon, Shar talked Blake into taking his nap there and he has been in love with his Big Boy Bed ever since. It took all of 3 days and no crying. Here is what we did for those who care.
1. Painted his bed in the back yard. Blake and a can of black spray paint was a lot of fun.
2. Put "sports" sheets on his bed. Footballs, soccerballs, baseball gloves and bats, basketballs. He thought he was sleeping in heaven.
3. No box spring. It is just too high for little boy.

That's all we did. After that he just wanted it. What I wanted to share with all of you out there is this picture - a mental picture. The bed completely swallows Blake. He is so small in there. Do you veteran parents remember what you child looked like the first time you put them in a big bed. Blake seems so small and fragile. It is so peaceful to watch him thrash around in his covers as he fights himself to sleep. He sleeps like his dad does. But it is so perfect to watch. This is one of the memories I want to keep in my heart about my son growing up. It is going so fast. God help me cherish all of the special moments you give us.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Man, you sent me down memory lane! As you said, every child is different. With Alyssa, we were putting her to bed one night and she said, "I'm not sleeping in that bed. Its for babies and I'm a big girl."

We weren't prepared for this to just come out of the blue and had not gotten her a new bed yet. So we put her tiny little body in the queen size guest bed where it swallowed her up. She loved it.

Hang on to those memories because it does go so fast.