I can’t think of anything left to signify Maximus growing out of toddlerhood and into the big kid zone. His toddler bed was still adequate, but I was itching to get him into a big bed. I had visions of laying next to him and reading him a story, or just snuggling. 🙂 One of those visions I’ve had since I was pregnant with him. For Christmas, we bought him a transportation sheet set from Pottery Barn Kids that isn’t online anymore and a red quilt. We told him we’d convert his bed to a big huge bed. “What’s a convertible?” Heh, I love the words he hears.
As with most projects, all hands were needed to assist in the disassembly. Although, only one extra set were actually doing anything. Before they could get to work, Maximus had to pick up his room. Read: throw everything into his closet. His brother quickly joined in and helped clear the space of all those legos that.are.always.on.the.floor.
I used the opportunity to vacuum under those furniture places. When asked why I was vacuuming again {I did it earlier this week}, I told him a little secret that I hope most households follow. “We don’t move the furniture when we vacuum… By the way, did you know you had so many plastic balls under your dresser?”
Maximus is pretty good at screwing or unscrewing things, so he got right to work on his “job.” Quinten helped by putting the screws into a bucket {after he got in trouble for taking them out and putting them in his mouth}.
When you have multiple helpers, things go a little slower. However, teaching and doing projects with little hands is a rewarding, yet frustrating process. Somehow it all equals out and the boys have a lot of fun. We took a few breaks for visitors, lunch, nap time, a trip to Menards, and supper. Luckily, I had enough time to remember that I needed to wash the sheets. Since it was laundry day, it worked out well in my brain. {No more laundry for a week! Er, maybe I better wash our sheets and another load of kid clothes. CRAP! It never ends!}
Maximus and Bryan helped me make the bed and I got ready to take a picture. Maximus wanted the picture to be perfect so he crawled under his covers. His smiled alone made me so happy we’d done it! I said, “Thank you daddy for putting together Maximus’ big boy bed.” Maximus quickly followed with, “Yes, thank you daddy and me for putting together my new bed!” Heh.
I gave him an extra pillow from our room and he told me it was for when he had a friend stay over. “He can use that one.” While Maximus and I were grabbing pillows and blankets, Quinten was also bringing in random pillows and blankets for Maximus. You can see that he put a Cyclone pillow on the edge of the bed as he watched Maximus test out the new setup. Maximus quickly invited his brother in and asked me to take another picture, but not until Quinten was under the covers. By the way, Quinten stayed there for at least ten minutes. I was pretty sure he was going to throw a fit when he went to bed. He did, but he never mentioned wanting to be in Maximus’ bed.
My first thought … tonight when Quinten wakes up 78 times, I’m putting him in Maximus’ bed. He’d probably sleep. Last night, after he’d been up five times, we tried putting him in our bed at midnight. Forty-five minutes later he was kicking me in the head and was still wide awake. Tonight he’s armed with cough medicine and we’re crossing all things that cross in hopes that he sleeps. If not, best of luck Maximus.
With his new bed came a new room arrangement. I thought it might bother him because he likes his door wide open, the bathroom light on, and a couple of night-lights in his room. Now, he’s across the room from the door so the night-lights are different and he asked me to shut his door. He has an extra puppy in his bed for “when a friend sleeps over” and he decided to sleep on the pillow closest to the wall. He came out of his room right away to tell me we forgot to put his new slippers on, but otherwise we haven’t heard a peep from him. I might have thought a little longer if I knew this new bed was going to bring another level of independence! And now we have to be sneaky about checking on him since his door is shut…
