Big Changes for Big Kids

We've had some exciting big changes in the Allen household recently. As many of you know, I keep my kids in a crib for a long time. A really LONG time. I figure that they really don't know the age at which most other children start making their transition to a big kid bed, so why rush things. Having my kids in a crib when they're toddlers preserves my sanity. It's like their own little sanctuary and they sleep so well in their little cribs. Maura stayed in her crib until we moved back from Georgia, which made her three years and three months old. Tristan was still going strong in his crib at three years of age as well. He was certainly able to escape from his crib if he chose, but was pretty safe about how he was getting in and out and he'd really only get out when he woke up in the morning. Around Easter, though, I was offered a race car bed for him and it was an offer I couldn't refuse. This little boy loves race cars so much that I knew he'd be thrilled with a race car bed. We decided to wait until after his birthday to make the switch.

Of course I neglected to get a photo of my big boy in his crib before we took it down! Brent reassembled it for the yard sale, so I popped Tristan in to get one last photo of my boy in his bed. Doesn't he look huge in there? He pretty much filled up the whole crib, which is why we skipped the toddler bed with him and opted to transition straight to a twin size bed. On the night of the big switch, the kids were so pumped!! They jumped around the nearly empty room after the crib was disassembled until Daddy brought all the pieces of the bed upstairs. Then, they pretended to drive the car. I have a future Danica Patrick and Mario Andretti!

Nope, this boy is not excited about his bed. Not even a little. He could care less.

The kids couldn't wait to get the mattress on so they could jump on that race car bed. Tristan decided that the car just couldn't be complete without some Lightning McQueen stickers. He begged me to get some stickers for him and when I did, he plastered the whole front of the bed with images of his hero. Bennett has been busy peeling them off for the past month, but I don't think Tristan has noticed yet!

Below: Bennett Boo turned eleven months old in May. He's getting to be a toddler in so many ways. He is absolutely into everything. He crawls lightning fast and can reach a doorway, stairwell, or prohibited item before I can even blink my eyes. He's a squirmy one and probably the most active of my three VERY active babies. Hard to believe that's even possible!!

Bennett is an absolute ball fanatic and will scream loudly if anyone else plays with a ball. He wants ALL the balls! He has a really good arm too. He can launch a ball a good six feet and he's going to do some damage in my house before too long. He loves playing with cars and stuffed animals too, but balls are his ultimate favorite!
Bennett is a daredevil of a baby. He loves stairs, climbing and attempting to fall from high places. If you look carefully at his face, you can almost always see a healing bruise from one of his feats of daredevilry! We don't currently have a gait on our stairs due to a missing part, so I spend a lot of time chasing him away from the stairs. He generally gets about two stairs up before I get to him and stands there giggling and bouncing, knowing that he's being a stinker! He can make it all the way to the top with me walking behind him for safety.

At eleven months, I finally moved this baby to a big boy car seat. I moved Maura at six months and Tristan at five months, but Bennett stayed in his infant seat for a lot longer for logistical reasons. I realized pretty quickly that I had to be able to carry the car seat inside a building and sit it down while I got the other kids organized. Having him free was not an option! At eleven months, though, he simple was too big for the car seat. He hit 20lbs and there was no going back. The infant seat was put in the yard sale and Bennett was put into a big boy seat--rear facing, of course, as per the newest car seat safety recommendations. Grr.

All I can say is, "Thank the Lord for child safety locks!" This baby would live in the cupboards if I would let him! He routinely gets into the cupboards in my bathroom, drags all the products out from under the sink and throws them in my bathtub. Big fun for him, big pain for me! Even bigger changes are coming to our household soon--Bennett's first steps are just a few weeks away!!