The saga of Cooper's toddler bed training.....

Thump.

That's the sound of a 2 year old landing on the ground with the ease of a cat after scaling the side of his crib. Cooper discovered that if he doesn't want to stay in bed, he doesn't have to. So, for his safety, we decided that we were going to make some changes in his sleeping arrangements. We looked at twin beds. The walk in closet in our first house is bigger than his room. There is no way that even a twin bed will fit in there. We discussed putting him in with Jackson on a trundle bed. I didn't love the idea of putting those 2 together...besides, I have just finished decorating Cooper's room. He will stay in there for another few years! So we ended up purchasing toddler bed. It is such a cute little bed.....but.....

Since then, it has been a battle. A battle of wills to be more specific. Parents vs. Cooper. Who will give in first? I must say that we are really lucky that both of us are around this summer to deal with this. Jason can pick up where I leave off in a state of complete exasperation, on the verge of throwing in the towel!



Initially, we had to camp out in our room in order to catch the little convict trying to leave his room at naptime. With each creeeeak of his door, we had to patiently and consistently put him back in bed. I should have kept count, because I think on Sunday I had to put him back in bed about 30 times. We got tired of doing that, so Jason ingeniously installed a night vision camera so we could monitor him from the comfort of our couch downstairs. It really is very entertaining. "The Cooper Show" is a must-see!


What will they think up next??

Jason put a little gate in front of his door. I feel a certain amount of guilt doing that, but he does need to learn that naptime and bedtime are not up for debate. Jason made a great point in saying "in theory, why is the gate any different than putting him in a crib or using a crib tent?" Okay...that makes me feel better.

So we have had a few little issues with the gate.

1. He wedges himself between his door and the gate

2.He attempts to crawl underneath the gate, gets stuck when his fat diaper won't fit and then falls asleep.

We have also discovered a few things about our dear, dear son Cooper.

1. He has taken the term "terrible twos" WAY too literally.


2. He has a book fetish.


3. He is a bit of a control freak


4. Stubborn, oh so stubborn. Lord help us.

This brings us to last night. Honestly, these nights are all running together. I don't know that the routine has varied much from night to night...except that it is getting a bit easier and the battle gets shorter each night. Although, we have had to tie a string from his doorknob to ours to keep him from opening his door. I have known this all along, but it has taken this situation to solidify that Jason is WAY better than I am with discipline. He means business. He is the definition of tough love. We will turn on the "Cooper Show" after a long struggle with bedtime, and find a sleeping Cooper. I will just melt and say AWWWHHHH, how cute is he? Jason will just shake his head in disbelief that I had already forgotten the war we just fought with that same child.