Age three felt like a good age to transition Aidan from his nursery to a Big Boy Bedroom. At almost three years old, he was mostly potty trained (still wearing pull ups at night) and doing great in his convertible crib during naps and nighttime. Gifting him with a Big Boy Bedroom for his third birthday seemed like the perfect way to truly welcome him into Big Kid Life!
Aidan’s been obsessed with trucks since he was about 18 months old, so it was a no brainer what the theme of his room would be. Luckily “trucks” was an easy theme to work with. I think the hardest part was doing all the research on how to transition a toddler into a Big Boy Bedroom. I found myself Googling things like “twin bed versus toddler bed” and how to “toddler proof a bedroom.” So I thought I’d share what I learned during this process as well as some of the decor and necessities we bought for his new room:
How we made the transition from crib to convertible crib:
About a month before we made the transition, we read Aidan some books on Big Kid Beds to plant the seed and help him start understanding the concept.
A few days before the big transition, we introduced Aidan to his new alarm clock, the LittleHippo Mella Ready-to-Rise Alarm Clock, and explained how it worked. He seemed excited about the clock and easily understood the concept.
We also started moving some of the potentially dangerous furniture out of the room. I replaced his nursery glider with reading pillows and we took his dresser drawers out of the room completely.
After doing research on this, it seemed like most websites advised not to lock your kids door from the outside, but I couldn’t find a reason why. To me, it seems like you wouldn’t want your kid escaping their room during sleep time, so you should lock the door until it’s wake up time? Since Aidan was already getting a ton of newfound freedom by having an open crib, I decided to lock his door from the outside to start out. The morning after his first night in a convertible crib, he tried to leave the room on his own, but once he realized he couldn’t get out, he went back to his bed and waited for me to come get him!
To keep Aidan from rolling out of his crib, we bought a crib safety rail, but it wasn’t compatible with an Ikea crib, so we returned it and just used pillows as a rail and the reading pillows we got him as a soft landing in case he did in fact roll out.
Whenever I do big sleep transitions, I plan it for a weekend night (Friday or Saturday) when we don’t have to wake up early the next day in case Aidan has a lot of wakings throughout the night. This way we don’t have to go to work in case we’re zombies.
We made this transition about two months before moving Aidan into his big kid room.
Why and how we made the transition from convertible crib to twin bed:
I went back and forth on if we should buy Aidan a toddler bed for his new room or if we should just buy a twin bed. If we bought a twin bed, we could use his crib mattress and all we would need to buy is new bedding to match the theme of the room. If we bought a twin bed, we’d need to buy the bed (more expensive than a toddler bed), a twin mattress, and new bedding. We ultimately decided to buy a twin bed because it would save us money in the long run, versus saving money in the moment with a toddler bed. If we bought a toddler bed, Aidan would eventually outgrow it and we’d have to buy him a twin bed anyway, so cutting straight to the twin bed seemed like the best money-saving option!
Aidan had no idea we were putting this new room together for him, so we weren’t sure what his reaction would be. We knew he’d like all the truck stuff in the room, but weren’t sure what he would think of the bigger bed since he’s not a huge fan of change. Because of this uncertainty, we planned the big reveal for a Friday night in case Aidan had a lot of wakings throughout his first night in a new bed and environment. To our pleasant surprise, Aidan had no hesitation about sleeping in his new bed and he did great that first night! I think the fact that his room was truck-themed really helped.
In Aidan’s new room, we used his ready-to-rise clock and his reading pillows. For his bed, we bought a bed rail bumper.
Even though Aidan was not trying to escape his room during nap or night time, I still decided to put a lock on the outside the door to his new room. To this day, he waits for me to come get him out of his room after he wakes up in the morning, but after his nap he will leave the room himself which I’m now comfortable with.
Decor and products we used for the Big Kid Bed and Room:
Navy Blue Blackout Curtains
Hiccapop Toddler Bed Rail Bumper
LittleHippo Mella Ready-to-Rise Alarm Clock
Butterfly Craze Kid’s Floor Pillow Cover
Door Lever Locks for Childproofing
Big Kid Bed book
Transportation Bedding Collection
Large Plastic Storage Bin
Transportation Art
Have you transitioned your toddler to a Big Kid Bed or Room yet? If so, how did it go?
The post Truck Themed Big Boy Bedroom appeared first on Gina Marie Rose.