Big boy bed!

We took the side off Jolly's crib yesterday, so it is now a big boy bed. We are very proud of him - he went to bed with no more than the usual amount of whining, slept all night without falling out of bed, and then got out of bed himself in the morning ("I jumped out of my bed!" he announced happily. Because for Jolly jumping is the preferred method of transportation.) He didn't even get up when Rip woke up and I went to get him and changed his diaper - just mumbled that he wanted his turtle (which had fallen out of bed), and then went back to sleep for a bit after I gave it to him. This transition required a lot of prep over the past week. Last weekend we suggested that we should take the side of the crib, because he had started climbing, and his reaction was, "I want to help!" "Nooooo I want the side to STAY ON!" And he kept insisting he wanted the side on, even when we tried to sell him on the merits of getting in and out of bed by himself. So we got out the calendar, and marked important dates on it, including the "crib -> big kid bed" day, and crossed off each day while talking about what was going to happen. So by the time the big day rolled around, he did in fact want to help. We also moved the floor of Rip's crib down to the lower level, AKA baby cage. This required more tools than expected, because the I.KEA crib had a design flaw that meant the slats stuck out a few millimeters too far to fit in the lower position. So we hammered the slat farther in so it fit, and then we had to get out the drill to widen the hole in the slat so the screw would fit through in the new position. We were very proud of ourselves for fixing it.