bump in the night

We moved Nico into a big boy bed in mid-September and the transition has been remarkably smooth. I was worried he'd resist the change, but he adjusted very quickly and has pretty much been exclusively in the new bed for over a month now. He loves his special "mighty machines sheets" that we bought him, he loves having his own "pie-yo" (pillow), and he loves for the three of us to sit on the bed to read his bedtime stories.

I scoured Craigslist all summer but we never found a frame we liked enough to justify the asking price, so we ended up using a twin bed frame we've had at the house for years, one that was old when my parents bought it secondhand during my childhood. The only downside to this is that the built-in metal support / spring grid on the frame is pretty shot. Because of this, we bought a mattress and box spring to make sure Nico's bed would be firm and non-saggy, which worked great other than raising the bed so high that Nico actually can't climb into it by himself. This wasn't expected to be too much of an issue since Nico's not in and out of the bed to use the potty yet (alas!) but it turns out it's been a problem because N has been falling out of bed.

At least five times now, we've heard a horrible gut-punching thud from the second floor and gone sprinting upstairs to find him standing in his darkened bedroom, rumpled and crying and asking us to rub some slighted body part (usually his head). Luckily the thick carpet in his room has saved him from any actual injuries, but with him showing no signs of figuring out how not to fall off the bed, we decided last night that something had to give. He already has a toddler safety rail on each side of the bed, and while I'm not sure since I've never see it happen, I suspect he's falling while trying to climb out of the bed half-asleep rather than rolling off the side.

We took the box spring off tonight to lower the mattress, so we'll see if that solves the problem. I don't like it much at all because of the sag in the mattress but we have a plywood bunky board on our guest room bed (which is actually the other half of the bunk bed set that his bed came from) that we are planning to put on his bed tomorrow. I feel kind of silly that we didn't go that route in the first place and save the money on the box spring, but oh well. If this doesn't help I guess we'll have to try extra-long safety rails or just put his mattress on the floor. I will say that after we took the springs off tonight he was super pleased that he could climb into bed on his own, exclaiming, "Look! I did it myself!" I'm crossing my fingers for an injury-free night.

PS While you're waiting on the edge of your seat for big boy bed updates, you can click over to my review blog and comment for a chance to win a neat wooden truck from Melissa and Doug, if you're so inclined. The giveaway will run through November 24.