sleeping tales: on becoming a big boy

Photography by Tande, Di-Lanatta's Photography

Luca just turned 3 and he is proud of his “big boy” status, but I am feeling a little nostalgic. As I made his bed this morning I stopped and sat down on the mattress thinking about his journey through the world of Z’s.

One of the best presents I received for my baby shower was a small co-sleeper which fit between Alain and I right on our mattress. A tiny 6 lb 12 oz bundle, Luca slept in it for 4 weeks. I could hear him breathing in his sleep. I swaddled him when he kicked off the blanket. I nursed him as soon as he started to rustle. He soon moved to his convertible crib in his own bedroom and I missed him so much!

It took some time for him to sleep through the night. While we had decided to apply the Ferber method, our application was rather poor. We could just not hear him cry without feeling absolutely guilty and horrible. Eventually we got the courage to let him cry a bit and we were surprised to see how quickly he got the point!

The next step was to convert his crib to a toddler bed. He was happy to have the independence to get in and out of the crib as he pleased, but it quickly turned into a challenge when he started to leave his crib and climb onto our bed during the night. While it was nice to have him close to us, and to have him sleep much later, we wanted to reclaim our bed as our territory! As before, we eventually got the courage to banish him from our bed and I remember taking him back to his crib 8 times one night. Again, he got the point quickly.

A few months before Andre arrived, we moved Luca to a twin bed. I installed temporary railings to avoid mid-night spills and he was excited to have a new bed. By the time Andre arrived and started sleeping in the crib, Luca did not mind the takeover.

Now even the railings are gone. Luca’s bed is a big boy bed and I can’t help but imagine when he is a teenager and would rather die than sleep with his parents! He is growing up so fast… maybe we should have been less adamant about the whole thing. Maybe we should have let him sleep with us a little longer.