Jake's New BIG Big Boy Bed...

Just a quick post for now with some pictures of Jake's new "BIG big boy bed", as he likes to refer to it. On Christmas morning, Jake found a note by the chimney from Santa letting him know that he had a new big boy bed for him, but that he didn't want to wake him up by putting it in his room, so he was sending some of his "friends" the following Monday to set it up for him. Luckily, at 4 years old, this still seemed to make a lot of sense to him. Whew!!!!!!!!!

So, we counted the days from Friday to Monday and boy did they seem to go slowly for him. Then Monday rolled around and we counted the hours and waited, and waited and waited... And as luck would have it, at about 3 in the afternoon we received a call letting us know that the truck had broken down (now Jake's first question was "why don't they just borrow Santa's sleigh, he's not using it today?!?!...hmmm, good question) At first, the lady from the store asked if they could just deliver it tomorrow? To which I replied TOMORROW?!?!?!...obviously she had NO idea what kind of trauma that would cause for my anxious little 4 year old who was pacing back and forth by the front door!!!!! Not to mention the fact that I had already taken his toddler bed and moved it up to the attic and we had carefully prepared the spot. Oh, I just couldn't see myself bringing that bed back down and I saw nothing but a restless night of sleeping with a disappointed little boy in bed with me. So, I asked if she could do everything she could to TRY to get that bed to us that night some time and she said she would.

Well, at about 6 we received a call from the driver, letting us know he was still coming and that they would likely be at our house between 8:30 and 9. Hmmm, so much for the 7:30 bedtime, eh? Then 8:30 came and went, and 9 and 10 and at about 10:30, they rolled into our driveway. Well, Nanny and I were dead tired, but not the boy... oh, no, he was raring to go! And oh so excited to meet "Santa's friends".

So, in come the "friends" (from the look on his face, I have a feeling he was expecting elves...and that, these 2 men were not) and off he goes to get his tools and his construction helmet with the light on it and his measuring tape. Yes, these lucky men, out until almost midnight delivering beds, were blessed with an excited little 4 year old who was determined to "HELP". And I thought I was having a tough day...LOL

And help he did...he organized their screws and bolts and washers for them...by size, of course. And told them exactly how many they had of each. And he measured all of the pieces to be sure they knew exactly how long and tall they each were. And when threatened with his life (by me) to get OUT of their way (at the rate they were going, they were going to be sleeping over), he proceeded to draw them pictures to take with them...some for them and a special one for Santa. This, they definitely got a kick out of.

So, the bed was set up and nanny came up to inspect and when asked what she thought, she gave one of those looks that makes it VERY clear that you are trying to be supportive, but thinking "oh God, what moron puts a bed like this in a room like that?" But, the boy LOVED it...and I don't think there's a font size large enough to emphasize the word LOVE appropriately. So, we put him to bed and decided to deal with the possibility of rearranging it in the morning.

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a little bit of a perfectionist at heart... I just like things to work out... I'm a fixer...you have a problem, I'm going to be thinking about how to solve it before you finish telling me what it is. Just the way I'm wired. No problem too big and nothing is impossible. That said, as you might imagine, I did not sleep a wink that night thinking about all the possible ways to make that bed look good in that room.

Jake had an AWESOME first night in his bed, and thankfully, was totally oblivious to any issue with the bed, the room, Nanny or his neurotic Mommy. First thing in the morning, I used my little paper layout of the room to evaluate other possible configurations and with Nanny's help, we came up with what we thought would help. Only problem was, that the bed itself didn't just have to be moved, it had to be partially reassembled as the end with the dresser needed to now be at the opposite end, which meant the ladder had to move as well. Up came the tools, apart came the bed, and back together it went. Here's what it looked like after our first attempt...

Would you say he looks a little happy?!?!?!?

Then, while showering I thought to myself, now why should we waste all that empty space behind the dressers (since they are only deep enough to go half-way back under the bed)? So, I tried pushing them to the back of the underside of the bed and it created what he now considers his absolute favorite part of the bed...the cave, tent, special hiding place.

Then we added the "curtain" (the top sheet to his set) and WOW, now we had the magical space behind the curtain!!! Here's a picture of the improved configuration. And although we obviously would have a difficult time utilizing the top drawers, considering we replaced a 3 drawer changing table with 12 new draws (9 of which remain empty), I think we'll be ok without those 2.

See, no worries about it being dark under there either, he has his construction helmet on with the flood light on the front...LOL

That night, I knew that he must really, really love his new bed when he asked me at 7:00 if he could go up and get his pjs on (which he did ALL BY HIMSELF)? Then at about 7:30, he asked if he could go up to bed?!?!? Maybe I should have asked for the BIG big boy bed much sooner?!?! LOL

Wow, so much for a short post, eh? Anyway, looks like it's all worked out for the best... Nanny's happy and our boy is ecstatic which all equals mommy being very, very, very happy as well. More on Christmas later... hope everyone is enjoying the holidays and looking forward to the New Year!