Big Boy bed!

Before Finn was born I made all sorts of plans for how to handle an infant child. I bought furniture and appliances and clothing to fill his bedroom and turn it into a nursery, but these plans didn't reach that far into the future. Most of the stuff was in use within a month and everything was in use within six months except for one thing: an alternate guard rail to turn his baby crib into a toddler bed. The only reason I even bought this particular rail was it was hard to find in 2019 and I didn't want it to be impossible to find when we wanted to convert the crib to being a toddler bed. So this rail has lived in a box in the garage for three years while everything else I bought before he was born got used up as all the other pregnancy plans played out. 

We didn't know the right time to transition to a toddler bed because we thought it would be obvious. The usual time is when they want to jump out of the crib, but Finn would threaten to jump out but never would. Given this the crib lived on past when most parents would give it up, to the point where when we went in for his two and half year checkup his pediatrician looked puzzled that the crib made it this long. For both of us this wasn't really a pressing issue until the appointment, as we both appreciated how the crib made it so that we didn't have to worry how he could hurt himself in his room. Also I guess we weren't ready for Baby Finn to be retired as a concept as Big Boy Finn snuck up on us little by little every day. 

But Finn has made a lot of progress recently both mentally and physically to warrant the promotion. Mentally he can now hold an actual conversation and follow along, or string words together in ways that make sense. He suddenly no longer enjoys the simple song shows of the COVID year like Little Baby Bum, and instead prefer shows with a story like Paw Patrol. He no longer wants to be carried so much and wants to walk where he wants to go. Other than diapers and a crib really there is nothing left to tie Finn to the age of the baby, as he has become a full grown big boy a little by little since his second birthday. 

Realizing this Lindsey made a declaration two weekends ago that moving him forward on these next two goals were the priority, but we should take them on one at a time. It was decided to ditch the crib first, and then focus on the potty and so that night I worked out in my head what needed to happen to change his room to the point where nothing dangerous was easy to get to. Amazon Prime still means something for small things like this and so we had all these safety items the next day. While watching Finn that night I redid the wiring in his room and got rid of anything unsafe as per my plan. Finally once that was complete I got the toddler rail out of its resting place in the garage, took it out of the box and replaced the crib rail with the toddler rail converting the entire thing to a "big boy bed."

Lindsey was visibly upset by how quickly I moved on the issue, as she was scared of what would happen once Finn was free in his room. Luckily Finn was very excited about the change, and he kept shouting "big boy bed!" as I finished getting it ready. After I was all done before we put him down to sleep I told him that he had to prove to us that he was ready to be a Big Boy and to be good that night and stay in his bed. Despite being so excited that he didn't go asleep for over an hour to his credit he never left the bed that night in his determination to prove to us he was ready. 

That first night went without any issues at all. The next morning when I went to wake him up he was waiting for me at the door. The first thing out of his mouth when he saw me was an excited "big boy bed!" Eventually after a few nights that novelty wore off but we never had any major issues. We let the old crib rail go on the curb and I began to redecorate his bedroom into a Mario theme (whose decorations I collected my entire life) to complete the transformation from being a nursery into being a little boy's room. Sooner or later we might replace the whole bed entirely with a classic car bed, but for now its time to gear up for potty training.

But before I moved on the day after I changed his bed the novelty of the fact that I had just used the last piece of preparation I made prior to his birth hit me. It has now been over a year since he has been an infant, and along the way I said goodbye to so many pieces of clothing, furniture, appliances and toys that were acquired during that pregnancy phase. I remembered my mindset of that time, and in retrospect I appreciate all that preparation to get me through that first year. More than anything I remember how back then the concept of him being in the toddler version of the bed felt like a distant horizon, some far flung future where life would be unrecognizable. 

In that moment I felt a bond with the 2019 version of me, the version of myself that started this blog and bought that toddler rail. I felt like I had finally completed my original plans, and I felt satisfied that all those now ancient efforts payed off. At the very least 2019 me made a current day Mr. Finn very happy, and that is the best you can ask for.