A room of one's own

This summer we had to make a change. Keith was climbing out of the crib every night but we were still shopping for furniture. So, his mattress came out of his crib and onto the floor. Safer than the base jumping off the crib right?


Then I had a nervous breakdown. My child who was previously a great (no Mommy exaggerations here, he was down by 7:20 pm and I had to wake him up at 8:00 am) sleeper would not stay in his room! I tried everything, longer nap, earlier nap, no nap, earlier to bed, later to bed, reading in bed, milk in bed, extra silkies in bed, no silkies in bed..... One very teary night (for both of us) I remembered something I read in a friend's blog. I got out the screwdriver and swapped the master bedroom locking door handle with his non-locking door handle.
And I locked my son in his room. For real, don't try this at home. The screaming and crying was one thing, the room thrashing was a whole other thing. He tore things off the wall, he broke his night light and his soother, he destroyed anything he could reach. At that point I moved everything within his reach out of his room. A couple nights later he went down much better and has been more (relative term, eh?) cooperative ever since. He's persistent though, he checks the door every night, if we forget he will meander downstairs and make himself comfortable on the couch. So we lock it every night and unlock it before we go to bed.

Not to be outdone by his mother's ingenuity (borrowed though it might be), Keith committed himself to locking me out whenever the opportunity presented itself. This is especially funny in the morning while I am trying to do a million things to get ready. The height of funny occurs when he locks me into his bedroom. Ask Kevin, it was hilarious (so funny, I forgot to laugh).

But now, now is the time for a transition. He's going to the boys' east wing (as opposed to the baby west wing, where he was. Don't you think calling areas of your house "wings" is kind of high faluting? The North Wing oh, yes that's the children's wing....). This project has been in progress for quite some time. Long enough that these flooring photos were difficult to find and any pictures (I know they exist) of the painting process have proven to be elusive.


The length of the project and Keith's fondness for sleeping half on and half off the crib mattress means I am so ready for this room to be done. One might even say, excited.
The room isn't even close to being completed (wall hangings, window coverings, closet, bedside table, etc.) but I love it. Patrick called it "fabulous". And he spoke what I was thinking, I want this to be MY room.

The blue trundle was on sale for $99. Despite my (limited on the English but long on the design advice) delivery guy's judgment, I like the blue trundle.


This little corner will be his reading/hiding spot. He loves making gates and nests and corrals for himself.


He already parked his cars in his closet.



And he was excited to get comfortable. Especially with the BIG surprise, silky sheets.

This weekend we potty train. If you want us, we'll be right here... potty training... all weekend......