The Room of Yes!

Benjamin's room of yes.  Almost done!

Benjamin is enjoying his new digs.  He loves the freedom and so do we! It's the one room in the house where we are totally comfortable leaving him to play independently.  We never have to say, "No," in this room.  (Okay, that is a little white lie, because we have to say no when he squirms with diaper changes.  But even that is starting to take place in its rightful place of the bathroom these days.)

There have been a few times recently where he has awoken from a nap, and rather than crying out, he decides to play.  And he's got the whole room to explore, never needing to be rescued from the confines of a crib. These self-initiated playful moments seem pretty magical to me.  As much as I have loved, and continue to love the 'attachment' part of our relationship, as he gets older, I am thrilled to see that he is comfortable exploring his world on his own.  And when David and I are playing the role of the classically bleary-eyed parents, we collapse onto his little bitty bed and watch him play.  He loves to crawl on and over us, and most recently, bring books to us to read to him.  Love this.

Additions for this room will include a nice wide wooden shelf David is building to put under the window area.  Also, I'll add framed photos and artwork that are child-proofed and securely mounted.  We *may* put the curtains back up. I want to test them again to see if he can pull them down onto himself first.  

David loves this room.  That's saying something.  Especially considering how he had a hard time letting go of the idea of the peacefully sleeping crib infant.  Not in the cards.  

Today, baby boo is sick with a fever.  Mommy slept with him in any way that would work for him.  That meant starting the night in the recliner, then the rocking chair, then the floor bed, then our bed.  We've had rougher nights than this.  

I rallied for the purchase of a twin bed mattress.  Alas, I have tabled my request for now... but it shall re-surface!!  Why do I want a twin mattress for my dear son?

Several reasons:

1) I also sleep on this mattress.  You can fault me all you want.  When he cries after a 30 minute nap, how do you think he gets back to sleep?  He'll sleep another whole hour (most times) if I just lay beside him and nurse him back to sleep. This is true for nighttime too.  Therefore, I want a twin mattress so I have adequate room and am not miserable from a sore back.  'Cause sometimes I fall asleep there in the middle of the night.

2) Ben can have more room for tossing and turning.  It doesn't happen terribly often, especially now that he's learned the boundaries of the bed. But there have been times that Benjamin rolls off his little bed.  This can wake him from a deep sleep, and rather than crawl back onto the bed, he cries.  A twin mattress would give him a little more room to move.

3) He will grow into it.  A twin mattress is something that you use all throughout childhood. It's not as though we'll only use it a year or two (like the carseat, the playard, all the infant paraphernalia...).  He will use it through, I don't know... teenage years?  I did.  So, I want a decent quality one.  (Do not even begin to read about chemicals in mattresses or you truly will not be able to sleep at night. Organic ones are extremely costly.  A good compromise, I've read, is one from IKEA, due to European  manufacturing standards being higher than in the US.)

4)  Family time.  More family time and togetherness.  There will be times when we will all want to crowd on his bed and play or read goodnight stories. Family time includes both parents, baby and dog.  A twin is the least we can get by with.  (I had considered a queen!)

Well, I'm off to go clean something.  Take your pick.  Not enough cleaning goes on around here.  Thank God for my dear, cleaning fool husband!  Yes, we do have a different standard of living around here these days (such as being okay with pee on my shoe), but still, I need to at least put some elbow grease into something besides his room.  Adios!