The End of an Era...or, Big Boy Bed or Bust

Alas, last night marked the end of co-sleeping for us. From here on in, we entrench ourselves in Operation Big Boy Bed. I may have made some mention months and months ago that we had purchased a bed for Ethan. It's been there all this time, much as the crib was before it, collecting laundry, random crap thrown on it moments before company arrived, and the cats. Poor cats. They are losing the most luxurious cat-bed known to the feline world.

We opted to skip right over the teensy weensy toddler bed, as Ethan has been snoozing in a king sized bed for most of his life. Can you imagine the shock of downsizing to that extent? All I can see is him tossing and turning, back and forth, like Austin Powers in the power plant, on that tiny little cart, hitting the walls over and over again trying to straighten out. That sort of bumper collision could not equal a good night's sleep. I also envisioned a toddler bed leading to years of therapy for claustrophobia and who'd want to do that to their kid? (non-judgmental disclaimer: If you child is in a toddler bed, I am sure s/he will not need years of therapy because of it. Please don't say mean things to me.)

So we got a full-sized bed. Even if Husband were skinny as Beckham and I was a lithe as Posh, I don't think either of us want to cram ourselves into a twin sized bed with Sir Spreadsoutalot. And who are we kidding? Of COURSE one of us is going to be in there with him for at least the first few weeks (months...did I say that?) of the transition. And rather than spend eleventy billion dollars a year at a chiropractor, we decided to go with the full size bed so that both Ethan and the parent of choice can stretch at will throughout the night.

Tonight it begins. The sheets are washed, the pillows are fluffed (well, they're pretty flat, but at least "fluffed" sounds welcoming) and the Ugly-Doll and an assortment of his regular night-night books are awaiting him in the new bed. He is up there as I write this, with Husband, settling in to a new phase of his life.

If any of you out there are or have been co-sleepers and have words of wisdom on how to make this transition easier on us (me), feel free to chime in. That is, unless you're going to say that my baby should be in my bed until he wants to be in his own and that I'm badbadbad for banishing him to his own space --because then I will hyperventilate and have to call my insurance company to OK me for some therapy. And I don't want to go to therapy.

So please wish us well, internet. It could be a long night (week...month...year) ahead of us.