Hellobee

With a new baby on the way and construction of our addition done, we were finally ready to move Little Lion to his new “big boy” bedroom! Here’s a peek at some ways we made his new room accessible and toddler-friendly!

1. The floor bed is back! – If you read my previous posts about our attempts at using a floor bed with our infant, you know it didn’t exactly go smoothly. Little Lion was mobile before he was sleeping through the night, and when 4am playtime became a habit, we called it quits and moved him back to his crib. Now that he is older he is less tempted to play when it is time for sleep, and it is working out really well that he has a bed he can get in and out of by himself. I don’t have to worry about him falling out of bed, and he seems to really like it too. He currently sleeps on a thin twin mattress, but we will eventually transition him to a queen mattress, and then a queen bed when he is a bit older.

3. Easy access to limited toys and books –  I find that when LL has too many options of things to play with he is more distracted and doesn’t focus or play as well, so we store almost all of his toys in clear bins in his closet. In his room he has a cube shelf with a few fabric bins containing some favorite toys. Since the toys in the bins are favorites, I leave them out for several weeks before rotating. He also has a small bookshelf that houses about 1/3 of his books at a time and a few stuffed animals.

Every day before independent play time we go to his closet and choose 1-2 additional “new” toys that are only out for that day. This gives him a little extra variety, an option for control, and the “new” toy is a good distraction for the first few minutes that he is playing alone. This helps ease the transition into independent play.

4. Family Pictures – Little Lion LOVES looking at pictures of himself and family, so there are several framed pictures in his room. He likes to carry them around and rearrange them. These frames also have acrylic instead of glass, so that they are safe for little hands.

5. Artwork Display – This is hung high for now because Little Lion’s curious hands destroy anything made of paper pretty quickly. Eventually I would love for his artwork to be displayed lower, so this area is temporary.

6. Play Kitchen – Since Little Lion’s bedroom is also his play room, we keep his kitchen here. This one is from Ikea, and I love the simplicity of it. He has always enjoyed opening and closing the doors, but he is finally old enough that he enjoys trying to “cook,” which basically consists of banging his pots and pans as loudly as possible.

7. Tent – This was a hand-me-down from a friend, and it makes a great cozy spot to read or to hide. It takes up a considerable amount of room, but Little Lion loves to climb in and out, and we use it to store his extra pillows and stuffed animals.

8. Magnet Board – His magnet board is made up of a large frame that I found at goodwill and piece of steel from Home Depot. His magnets are stored away in the closet when not in use (some of his magnets require close supervision, and others are too noisy to have access to during sleeping times!)

9.  Other Decor – One downside to having a room fully accessible to toddlers is that putting everything at toddler height leaves a lot of empty wall space up high. Eventually LL will be big enough to decide everything that goes on his walls, but for now I included a name sign, a large truck decoration, and a few more framed prints just for my own sake.

10. Essential childproofing measures – Just like in his nursery, this room was designed with safety in mind. Furniture is attached to the walls, outlets are childproof, nothing that is a potential choking hazard is left out, and cords are all concealed. These things are essential since I leave LL in his room unattended.

The transition from nursery to toddler room was surprisingly smooth. When moving him to his new room, we limited what was in the room to just his furniture. This allowed him to adjust to sleeping in his floor bed without the distraction of toys and books.

At first, LL fell asleep in the oddest of places. It was fairly entertaining to come into his room after he fell asleep each day and see where he chose to lay down. Eventually he figured out that the bed was really the most comfortable spot, and now he will fall asleep there most of the time. I always check on him about 20 minutes after he falls asleep and move him to the bed if that isn’t where he is. He definitely sleeps better there than on the hardwood floor.

As he began falling asleep more quickly (it took a bit longer for the first few weeks) I slowly started introducing books and toys into his room to test and see how tempting they would be. Much to my surprise, these never were really a problem. Since his toys are stored out of sight, he only rarely will get them out. A few times I have had to go back into his room at nap time to take some toys away because he is playing instead of sleeping, and simply putting away the basket he was playing with and putting it in the closet is enough to remind him that it is time for him to settle down and go to sleep.

We have been thrilled with the way Little Lion’s room turned out. I am so thankful to have a safe space for him to play and sleep that will foster independence, especially since baby sister will be here soon and will need much of my attention in the early days. Fortunately, LL loves his new room too!