I was recently asked if Anderson was in a toddler bed, when we made the switch, and if he wasn't when we were planning on doing that.  I started an email response to her then that draft got lost and I decided to blog about for the sake of remembering myself when we did this since I'm sure we'll forget.

About a month ago, so when Anderson was 22 months, we were staying at my parents for the weekend with my brother and his family.  Their son would be in the crib which meant Anderson would be in the pack n play.  The week before he had been in a pack n play while we were out of town and didn't sleep too well in it.  That night at my parents he was up a lot.  I didn't sleep myself since we were in the same room as him and being pregnant and demanding decided we should just try out the toddler bed to see if he would do better.

My parents were given a toddler bed from their neighbor so we brought that upstairs, set it up, put him down for his nap, and the kid slept like a champ.  Granted he really likes sleeping, doesn't fight it, and isn't the type to stand up in his crib and ask to get out while we're putting him down.

He slept well that evening, seemed to love the pillow, and when we got home we decided to turn his crib into it's toddler bed position as well.

The only problem here was that the crib mattress didn't go any lower than we already had it, and there was no side rail to ensure he wouldn't fall out.  I said a prayer, put some pillows on the side of his bed, and went to sleep.

For about a week he woke up an hour earlier than normal.  My guess is he may usually start to stir around 6 but has learned to sleep til 7.  After about a week he went back to sleeping in until 7.

He hasn't ever run out of the bed but then again, this is my child.  I was the kid who told my parents it was time for bed and would crawl up the stairs.  Anderson is the same.  Whenever I have to tell him it's time for bed or that we'll have to leave the pool to get home for a nap he says, "ok.  bye pool! night night."

Hopefully that's helpful to other Mom's wondering when to make the switch, and helpful again to me when I'm wondering when we should move this next babe into the toddler bed situation.  Now we'll have to see when we move Anderson into a twin bed.

As a side note- Anderson had started going to the bathroom on the potty the week that he tried the toddler bed out for the first time.  He would say he wanted to go, and actually go.  After the toddler bed switch he hasn't been interested.  We aren't pushing it as it's still really early in our minds and because I've heard too much change can play a toll on their little psyche.