Our active and brilliant son has learned a new trick: dropping the side rail on his crib. I couldn’t remember how it worked myself, but he figured it out on his own. Unfortunately, after he drops it, the top of the rail comes up to his bellybutton, so we had to do something. After some debate, we decided to convert his crib into a toddler bed several months earlier than planned. Here are a couple of before-and-after pictures:

We talked to him about his new “big boy bed” and let him watch while I took off the side rail. He seemed to enjoy being able to crawl up into the bed himself and practiced climbing in and out several times. After a couple of roll-outs onto the pillows we laid on the floor, I rolled up a towel and stuffed it under the sheet near the edge to show him where it is. After that he fell asleep and seems very content. Pray that it goes well tonight!