Big boy bed time!

In an unprecedented second trip to Ikea in a month (YAY!) we decided to just go ahead and get a bed for Chris.  The main concern with keeping him in the crib was the potential for injury on an escape attempt.  Just because he has escaped 475 million times without incident, that doesn't mean that he won't land wrong next time, right?  The second benefit of getting him into a bed is that it's on "the list".   So off we went to the epicenter for cool and modern Scandinavian home decor.  A family trip, always fun.

We checked out twin beds and beds in the children's section. We hemmed and hawed over pros and cons of one vs. the other.  And we went with a "junior" bed from the children's section.  Here's a few reasons why: 

• Chris is just 2 years old.  We can get 2-3 years out of this junior bed. .
• He's currently sharing a bedroom with a big sister.  For the immediate future, space in the room is an issue, a junior bed will fit better.
• The junior beds from the kid's section are very cute.  The twin beds are geared toward adults/teens and not little kids.

There were a few cons to the junior bed, not the least of which is that due to the fact that it's not a common size, sheets are not available anywhere but Ikea.  I figured this wasn't a huge issue as I can make some.  As soon as I get a new cord for my sewing machine.  (I know, it's been like 2 months.  I should just stop procrastinating and order one.)  For now we picked up 2 jersey knit sheets at Ikea.

The other major con is the fact that this bed will not last Chris until he leaves for college.  We are totally ok with that!  We had actually planned on upgrading Chris' bed regardless in a few years. See, Jason built Sarah's twin bed a few years back and we love it, so we figured he could just do it again (choosing.a different design).  Whenever this is no longer needed, we'll just CL it.

Why not a toddler bed?  A toddler bed is a great idea because they allow you to continue using the crib mattress and linens and many cribs convert into one. Mine didn't so I'd have to buy one.  The annoying thing was that I wasn't able to find one locally (didn't try too hard) and the few people on CraigsList I contacted never wrote me back.  And I wanted one NOW and not in the XYZ business days it would have taken WalMart to get one in.

Back to the story...we picked out the bed, mattress, a few sheets and came home.  Jason disassembled the crib and stowed it away in the basement, I moved the dresser to the opposite side of the room to cover the cable outlet.  Here's a little pic to explain what the heck I'm talking about.

Then Jason assembled the bed.  It was your standard flat-pack Ikea assembly job with cartoon directions and little Allen wrenches.

Chris got a little practice in right before I got the sheets on:

After some additional purging of a few larger items from Sarah's side of the room it was bedtime!

I wish I could say that transitioning Chris to a "big boy bed" has been a painless and smooth process.  Actually it's been pretty much a nightmare scenario where he gets out of bed 300 times before he finally falls asleep after 3 hours. **sigh**

Suggestions on how to do this better would be welcome!