the BIG BOY BED.

Oh, man. Where do I even start?

So my entire parenting life, I've had one philosophy: keep that kid in the crib for AS LONG AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE, but if he jumps out, it's time to switch to a big boy bed.

Well, guess whose toddler decides to jump out of his cage right when we brought a new baby home?

MINE!

And guess who completely forgot about the fact that training a toddler to stay in a big boy bed during nap time might be a difficult thing to do?

THIS LADY, RIGHT OVER HERE!

Oh, Lord.

Here's what went down in the battle commonly known around these parts as

THE CISNEROS CIVIL WAR: MOTHER AGAINST THE BIG BOY BED!

So it was a nice Saturday afternoon two-and-a-half-weeks ago when Chadly deconstructed the blessed crib which cradled our darling son for the past two years, and with it came a sense of excitement.

Here I was, completely blinded by new-mommy-memory-loss, actually thrilled about this new milestone. There was my son, lying between his new Cars sheets, atop such a large mattress! To think that boy was Kota's size at one point! 

Now thinking back on that moment, I feel like laughing hysterically. Maniacally. Freakishly.

{Okay, it's not that bad.}

{Not anymore, at least.}

Okay, so come Monday, Chad went to work, therefore leaving me ALONE with that thing. 1:00 rolled around, so it was time for a nap.

Ahh, yes, I naively thought, Now I can go take a nap with my daughter. Or maybe I should go read some blogs? Hmm...So many options!

Well, guess what, NICOLE! The BIG BOY BED had other plans for you!

Oh, it was hell.

Carter kept jumping out of bed, thinking the whole thing was a game.

Okay, no big deal, we'll try again tomorrow.

Tomorrow came, same thing.

Okay, the last few days have sucked, but that's okay, there's always tomorrow, and thank goodness for Supernanny. She always knows what to do!

Well, I didn't think about the fact that Carter actually ENJOYED me walking into his room every few minutes to place him back in that thing. The kids on Supernanny are crying their little eyes out like psychotic brats, wanting mommy and daddy to let them play! MISLEADING, I tell you! 

I tried it all: lying with him {"play?"}, sitting in his room without talking to him and scooting closer to the door every few minutes {HA! Not in my household!}, standing by the door and barging in every time I heard a peep {yeah, right}. 

NOTHING. WORKED. 

It was all one big, fat joke to him!

Anyway, this madness of Carter jumping out of bed and me throwing him back in it lasted up until just 3 days ago, and let me tell you, I melted down.

More than a few times.

Do you know what a napless toddler will do to a woman with a newborn? Not in the behavioral sense, but in the guess-what-mom?-you-won't-have-anymore-ME-time type of way.

I literally thought we made the biggest mistake of our parenting lives.

No joke.

For a good 10 days straight, every single time Chad called me from work, I told him that it was about time for us to put the crib back up and that we made a MAJOR mistake. Gone was my pride and my usual I-can-so-handle-this attitude. We were idiots. Who were we to go and do this to our family? How stupid were we? 

And he kept saying things like, "I know, babe, I'm so sorry, but I think we should just stick with the bed..."

At which point I would say something like, "For heavens sakes! This thing is HORRIBLE! Do you realize that Carter will probably never take another nap again, IN. HIS. LIFE?! We've gone and shot ourselves in the foot!" 

Oh, yeah. And that was more often than not through a tear-soaked face.

I was a wreck.

The mattress had completely broken me!

It's just not natural to take care of a newborn and wrestle a toddler for 2 hours a day, OVER A STUPID NAP!

I was ready to throw in the towel. 

Completely done, mentally and physically. It was so difficult picking that ball of muscles up and hauling him onto that tower of a bed for two hours straight! My back had had enough.

 I began to make peace with the fact that my barely-even-two-year-old child was done with naps, FFFOOORRREEEVVVEEERRR.

And it was all my fault.

Then the heavens opened up and the Lord shined down on me in the form of Carter going down for a nap within 10 minutes.

That was 3 days ago.

Then 2 days ago: Carter went down within 20 minutes.

Deep breaths, deep breaths, deep breaths...They were probably just flukes.

Then yesterday: 15 minutes.

No thrashing around for hours on end, no laughing when I threw him back down on his pillows.

Just saying, "baba?" and closing his eyes.

ALLELUIA, ALLELUIA, ALLELUIA, ALLELUIA!

{I would never have given him a baba in his crib, but I had to make a concession or two when dealing with this beast.} 

So what happened? How did my crazy tot relinquish his troublesome ways?

Well, I had to ditch the Supernanny technique and tell him {in a SUPER stern voice} that if he doesn't stay in bed, then he's going to TIME OUT.

So when he disobeyed once, off he went to do his time, pay his debt to society.

And after one round of that each day, he got the point.

{Okay, and I hate to say this, but there was a spank on the first day. ALRIGHT! I SAID IT! IT'S OUT THERE IN THE ETHER! I ADMIT: I RESORTED TO THE SPANK! But ever since then, he just knows.}

So all in all, I'm still a major believer in Supernanny, but when you already have a well-behaved little one who actually enjoys your company, you just have to get down to business and with a deep, manly voice, let him know who's boss. And now I know that my little babe does not consider me to be one of those women who just throws out empty threats! 

Looking back, it was a win-win-win :)

{Now let's just ALL pray that it lasts!}


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