Bed shuffle

Last night we did a big bed shuffle in our home. Colin graduated from his toddler bed to his "new" bunk beds (new to him - my parents bought them for me when I was 2 years old!) and Caleb moved from crib to toddler bed. We had to talk Colin through the changes in his room; he wasn't really opposed to bunk beds, but has a really hard time when any routine is changed. Adding the bunk beds meant moving the dressers and toy box also, so everything was really different.

Caleb didn't seem to care. He imitated Colin's excitement, and was hyped up by all the busyness of the night. Both boys brought up their own tools to help put the beds together and then helped carry out the crib pieces.

Bedtime went really well. Caleb is always exhausted by bedtime, and so he lied down in his bed as if it was the crib and fell right asleep. James got Colin excited about the bunks, so Colin finally warmed up to the idea and fell asleep, too.

Surprisingly, I was the one who was not fine! I didn't see it coming at all, but when James and I finally turned out the light in our own bedroom, the waterworks opened up and I just started to bawl! All I could think of was what would happen if the top bunk collasped on my little boy sleeping in the bottom bunk below. The more I cried, the bigger the bunks seemed and the smaller and more fragile Colin seemed. I wept and wept, gulping for air, unable to control myself. I knew they were safe; I knew my dad and James would never let Colin sleep there if it wasn't completely, totally, and unequivocally safe. But it didn't help.

I cried for an hour, then lay awake reading for another two. I finally drifted off into a fitful sleep filled with nightmares (thankfully unrelated to the bunk bed issue, but horrifying nonetheless. Perhaps I have just discovered that my nightmares are related to heavy emotional moments in my life?) I hadn't even fallen asleep when I heard the first cries from Caleb. I peeked in his room to find he had flipped himself to the foot of the bed and was head first over his laundry basket. Caleb has always been big mover while he sleeps; I even put in the bumper pads in his crib because he used to get his wrists and ankles caught in the crib bars as a baby. I soothed him quickly and he dropped off right away. But he cried another three times that night, and Colin woke twice. It was hard over that hour or two, but after that we heard nothing more.

Morning dawned and found us all sleeping (yes, even me!). Caleb jumped out of bed when he woke and starting wiggling the door handle. (I knew he would likely do that; even once we moved Colin to his toddler bed, he always called for us to "get him out" when he woke up. I only broke that habit last month by telling him it was okay for him to get up by himself and come and find us.) When we heard Colin calling for us, we found him lying on the mattress we had put on the floor beside his bed. We don't know if he fell out or climbed out, but he seemed happy.

So we seem to have luck once again with the bed issue. I know this can often cause huge problems for so many kids, and so I count myself lucky we got away with this one. Heaven knows there are many other struggles I encounter raising my children, so I celebrate the small victories, especially when they take so little effort.