Turning Into a Big Boy

Yep it's true, Ben is turning into a big boy whether I like it or not. In order to get ready for Sam and the new crib we decided to transfer Ben into a toddler bed. I have decided to do the boys room in a Heroes theme. (I'll post pictures of it later, it still isn't finished) So the bed we chose for Ben is a fire truck. We bought it off of Craig's List and saved a ton of money by doing so. These are pictures of Ben and Tom cleaning it up. Ben absolutely loves playing in his bed. He talks about it all the time!!!! Unfortunately he doesn't love sleeping in it as much as playing in it. It has now been 3 weeks and he still hasn't slept an entire night in the bed.
When I first transferred him we put a baby gate outside his door. He can open just about any door in our house (including the front door with the deadbolt) So he would just open his bedroom door and stand there crying. Without saying a word I would pick him up and put him back in his bed and walk out of the room. He would then run to the door and the process would start all over again. This would go on for about an hour and a half before he would fall asleep blocking the door. After all that work he would only sleep for about 30 min. for his nap. This lasted a few days before I couldn't take it any more.

We then put the baby gate inside his room about 3 feet from the door so it could still open. This way he couldn't get to the door and if he fell asleep on the floor we could still open it to check on him and transfer him to his bed. Each day he would cry for less time. Like I said, it has now been 3 weeks since we started this process and things are getting much better. He doesn't cry at all now. He just gets up silently and lays down on a blanket in front of the gate. He always starts out in his bed but by about 3 AM he ends up on his blanket on the floor.

I'm sure someday we wont need the gate up anymore. I'm so glad we started this before Sammy gets here.