How did he get so big?

The first step of preparing for Monster #3 just took place.  Josh has been sleeping on a toddler bed since he was 20 months and even if we weren't having another, it was time for a bigger bed.  First thing in the morning I moved the crib over to the other wall and changed out all the bedding.  The boys were very helpful.

Who knew that a mattress would make such a great slide?

Then my father, with the patience of Job in a big ol' pickup truck, drove me around to three different mattress stores until I found the one that I wanted.  I decided to go with an 'adult' twin bed that will last him for a long, long time and hold up better to heavier weights.

Josh was SUPER excited when Poppy came in with his new bed.  He sat on it for an hour, reading his books.  He is just tall enough to get up onto it.  Ben is very disgruntled that he can't follow Brother up there.

Right now we don't have any specific bedding except for sheets, but I figure with summer coming that he won't need lots of blankets yet.  Plus he's still getting used to the idea of having bedding that tucks in, not just loose blankets that he can fling where ever during the night.  For now we have a rolled up blanket under the open side to help keep him in, and pillows on the floor under him.  When we were in CA he fell out of the bed one night, so I know it's just a matter of time before he pitches himself off.

I can't get over how tiny he looks on in that huge bed, but at the same time I wonder how he could have possibly gotten to be such a big kid.  There were no problems adjusting to the bigger bed at all, so hopefully when I bring the toddler bed back in for Ben this summer he will not try to crawl in and sleep with Ben.  Because I don't think that little bed can handle two boys bouncing on it any more.

We've also made changes in the freedom allowed in the house.  We took off the lock on their door and took down the baby gate, since Ben is now a pro stair navigator.  It means that I have to keep all doors upstairs shut, otherwise Ben will make a beeline for the bathrooms and the fun contained therein.  So far Josh has been good about not opening doors to allow his brother access.  It's nice to let them have freer access to their toy room and bedroom, but most of the time they stay close to me in the house.

Mornings have taken on a new routine as well.  Since Josh can now leave his bedroom at will, he has been getting up around 7am and coming into our room.  David and I are both finely tuned enough to wake when we hear his door opening.  Due to the position of our bed with the door and hallway, David can look up and see Josh down the hall at his door.  David then waves for Josh to come on down, Josh runs as fast as he can and jumps into bed with us.  He's pretty good at laying down and being quiet so that Ben and David can sleep a bit longer.  I of course don't have the ability to fall asleep while being pushed on by little feet, or listening to Josh whisper to himself, but I was waking up at 7am anyways, so this just allows me to lay in bed versus being summoned to their door by Josh's knocking.

The best part of this?  Teaching Josh that he has to kiss daddy to wake him up and get ready for work.  So Josh says "Wake up, Daddy" and then gives him a big old kiss, which is a little nicer than waking up to an alarm.