Charlie's Room

While I am on the topic of sharing the nursery (if you missed it and want to see, please click here), I couldn't help but show something I am super proud of-Charlie's big boy room!  We did it several months ago (our pediatrician recommended that we don't do major changes/things for a certain number of months prior to the baby and a certain number after) and it turned out quite well, but we added some final touches this last week that we gave Charlie as birthday gifts.

Basically I went to Tar.get and saw they had a cute twin set that he would love-transportation themed.  I didn't want to spend a fortune and knew he'd be happy with this.  I chose not to do a toddler bed because I thought a) that meant we'd have to buy a second mattress for the baby's crib and b) I didn't want to have buy sheets etc twice.  I did end up buying two transportation crib sheets termporarily while he was in the big boy room but still in the crib (we didn't want to rush him and were fine with putting the newborn in the pack and play), but once he threw a leg over the crib on labor day weekend, we made the full transition.  The pillow sham below shows you the bedding, even though the quilt isn't actually on the bed right now.

This bed was given to us.  It used to be a bunk bed so there is a board and then two mattresses.  I am not sure how to explain.  We ended up removing the box springs and just having the top mattress and board to keep it securely in the bed frame because we discoved Charlie could slide out of the bed, but not get back in it!  This worked perfectly, but is quite a challenge for me to get in and out, especially with the guard rails!  A toddler bed would have been worse-I have heard of some folks that spend quite a bit of time in their children's beds.  We found a great happy medium in that respect-we only lay down with him for the books and leave, but when he wakes for the day around 7am, one of us crawls in with him and talk and hang out and sometimes read more books.  It is my favorite time of the day!  Charlie isn't in a hurry to leave his bed because he really loves his pacifier and blanket and we have a rule that they stay in the bed.  It helps him look forward to bedtime, and it will be really tough (I think) when the paci is gone.  However, it was one of the things we decided not to get rid of prior to the baby, so we will wait until afterwards. Especially since he only has it at bedtime, we thought this would be okay; plus he may need it for reassurance during the transition with the baby.

The room is fairly bare for safety reasons, plus we didn't want it to be too fun where he would play with things and not sleep.  I may be understimating him, but even the books we read before bed go in his closet when we are done.  The nightstand and dresser were mine when I was younger.  I updated the hardware.  The second picture shows his St. Raphael items on the shelf.

I had the idea for the design of this room based off the bedding and was frustrated when I couldn't find a good road border.  Dh painted the room, and my dad did the road.  We used striping tape they use on real cars for the road dashes (my dad restores cars so that was his idea) and the removable decals that come with the bedding set for the cars.  The trick is to never let the kids see they are removable and they work perfectly!  I was very pleased with how it turned out and as usual, there is the learning element of counting cars and naming colors, etc.

I was excited to get him the planes and cloud decals for his birthday.  I also bought the letters and painted them.  Since he is so big on letters, I figured this was a great way to get him to move to spelling his own name.  I don't think he gets that letters make words (though I better purchasing Leap Fr.og Wor.d Factory, the video, will change that!), but he will long before he grows out of this room :)  Anyway, I am not crafty at all so that is why I am making a big deal of this room when you all are probably laughing.  Rarely do things turn out as I picture them, but this is an exception!  Hanging these letters straight was a pain, but my mother in law helped out, thankfully!