Nightime Happenings

A couple of weeks ago, we moved Cooper's bed up from off the floor.  We haven't put the frame up yet, but he still has a bedrail.  For the last week, he has not slept well including falling out of bed several times.  We can't figure that one out since he has a rail. 

On Tuesday night, he appeared in our room around 1:15 saying there was a monster.  J took him back to bed, where Cooper kept telling him there was a monster on his back.  J ended up laying down with him a few minutes because he thought maybe since Cooper slept with his back to the wall, that was scaring him somehow.

Then last night, he would not stay in bed.  The first time, he crept down to the midway point of the stairs.  I took him back up and put him back in the bed.  A few minutes later, he was at the top of the stairs because I closed the gate.  This time he told me there was a monster on his back.  I checked his back to make sure there wasn't something there like a scratch or bug bite.  Nothing.

So I told him that we wouldn't let any monsters into his room.  He didn't seem convinced, so I called upon reinforcements.  Cooper loves Ben, so I told him Ben was right downstairs and he wouldn't let any monsters come up the stairs.  Ben would eat any monsters who try. 

That seemed to satisfy him, and we had an uneventful night.  I hope I haven't scarred him with some crazy story about Ben easting monsters, but we are talking about monsters here.

And then there was tonight.  He wanted J to read to him, then had a meltdown when I wasn't there to read after that.  I got him calmed down, and we talked and read for a little while.  He can actually finish most of the sentences in Goodnight Moon.  So neat to see these processes happening.  I laid down with him while we were still reading.  When the book was finished, I laid my arm across his body trying to snuggle with him.  He told me "Get off of me."  I responded to him that I was trying to cuddle.  And this is the sweet part.  He turned to me, pulled my neck closer to him, and started gently rubbing my face and hair.  Too adorable.  He can be such a cuddler, but only on his terms.

I hope we are over the monster business for now.

Big boy bed

We finally decided it was time for Cooper to move out of the crib.  He loves the crib because of the awesome crib tent.  But it was starting to get a little small in there.

We decided to start him out with just the mattress on the floor, then we will gradually build it up.  While I was out grocery shopping, J brought the mattress into his room and moved his crib over.  Cooper responded with "PUT IT BACK!"  Then proceeded to scream that statement over and over.

I asked J to take him downstairs while I staged the room.  The room is already a little on the small side, so the rocker had to come out in order to keep both beds in there.  I moved everything around, and made up his bed with his new supersoft, microsuede comforter.  The boy loves his soft stuff.  Out came his monkeys, bears, flashlight, pillow, nite-nite, paci, books ... he likes to have lots of stuff around him.

When he came back into the room, we had a few more "Put it back", but with less emphasis this time.  Once he got under the comforter, he was sold.

The best part is he went right off to sleep without any question.  Just snuggled down under his supersoft comforter, and he was out.  Nite-nite.

Oh, and J did agree with me.  The staging was the trick, but mommies are always right.  Right?

Monkey in a Cage

This is the "present" that came in the big box earlier this week. The Monkey recently started throwing one leg over the side of the crib, so another friend recommended this as a solution until he is ready for a big boy bed ... or make that until Mommy is ready. Believe it or not, but he still does fit in the crib.

As you can tell from the video, he loves it. He is doing really well with it after two nights. So we are keeping our fingers crossed that it continues.