Archive for the ‘Big Boy Bed’ Category

Big Boy gets his Big Boy Bed

Monday, August 4th, 2008
After getting home from Omaha, Brayton was very excited to know that he had finally earned his Big Boy Bed.

I took down the crib, and he was right there helping me the whole time. With every piece I took out, I could see the excitement growing. Colette proceeded to wash and dry his new sheets while we took down the crib. Uncle Matt helped me haul the mattress and box springs up from the basement.

After cleaning a bit, I proceeded to rearrange Braytons room and Colette made up his bed with his new sheets. He was jumping around, and it wasn’t long before B was up on his bed jumping on the bed.

To top off the night, Brayton said to me “Thank you Daddy for building me a big boy bed.”

Kids have a way of pulling your heart strings.

Posted in August 2008, Big Boy Bed, Brayton | No Comments »

Update on the Big Boy Bed Chart and other items.

Wednesday, July 9th, 2008

Well, Brayton is sleeping like a little angel tonight.

After supper, we went to the library fed the geese outside, put together some puzzels, played with the blocks and toys they have there, and read a few books. We also fed the geese with som left over hot dog buns. Lauren was crawling around trying to crawl into all the little crevaces between the book shelves. She stacked blocks, and stood up and cruised along anything she could. She’s really starting to get good with her little steps.

When we got home about 7:15, we did baths and played doctor a bit. Brayton and Colette had been playing earlier today, and when I went to look into B’s ear with the little doctors kit, Brayton told me there was a frog in there. Assuming Colette had told him this (later confirmed) I also told him that there was a frog in there and he doesn’t want B putting his finger in his ears. He looked at me with amusement, like he wasn’t sure if he should believe me or not.

After playing doctor for 15 minutes, it was time for bed. We talked about the bug chart, and discussed getting a big boy bed. He is so excited for his stickers and getting a big boy bed.

As of tonight, Brayton is going on his seventh day of going to bed without throwing a fit and will get his seventh sticker tomorrow morning. He has filled up the entire first row. Horray!

Posted in Big Boy Bed, Brayton, July 2008 | No Comments »

Working for a "Big Boy Bed"

Friday, July 4th, 2008

Brayton is transition.

We decided it’s about time we get him out of the crib and into a “big boy bed.” For the last two weeks he has been difficult to get to bed, for both naps and at night time. He would scream and cry, kick and flail about, and use any type of stall tactic his little mind could think of.
Grandma Cindy suggested that she thought he was big enough for a new bed, and Colette and I agreed.
We were orginally going to wait until his 3rd birthday, but with the recent spate of tantrums we knew we could not put him in a bed without rails until we fixed the tantrum problem.
Colette is so good at finding positive solutions to problems like this. She suggested we create a chart that every night B goes to bed with out fussing and throwing a tantrum, he gets to put a sticker on his chart. Once his chart is filled up, he gets his Big Boy Bed. I thought it was a great idea. We talked about how long it should be, I thought shorter was best. But we ended up doing 28 days. By that point hopefully the tantrums habit will be broken and it’s a long enough time he can see his progress while working for the Big Boy Bed.
Well, as you can see by the picture of the chart, we are two nights into the stickers and Brayton has been doing quite well.
We have been making it a point to really talk up the stickers and chart to get to the end goal of getting a Big Boy Bed. Brayton’s little mind is like his fathers (or so Colette says). He is already trying to scheme ways to skip all the days and put his sticker on the 28th day. He wanted to do that after day one.
Part of the ritual is he gets to pick a “bug” sticker. Colette bought these little bug stickers that Brayton just loves. So far, this chart idea is working well.
As I am writing this, it’s 11pm, and when Brayton wakes up tomorrow morning he will get to add his 3rd bug sticker. Not a peep out of him when I put him down for bed tonight. I made sure to remind him when we were reading books.

Posted in Big Boy Bed, Brayton, July 2008 | 1 Comment »