The new sleep solution

Disclaimer:  This is actually quite an old post.  I wrote it more than a month ago, but I wanted to add a picture, so I didn't post it.  I'm finally posting it with one mediocre picture.  Enjoy!  Good news...I added a second sleeping picture.

As an update on Gus's earlier post, we have now resolved the death trap that was Max's bed.  Our first attempt involved simply placing the mattress from his play pen on the floor.  Although quick and easy, this had a few downsides.  For one thing, I felt like I was sleeping my kid on the floor in the corner.  The play pen mattress is not really thick and doesn't provide the feeling of a bed.  Max also seemed to be missing having a closed in space to sleep in.  He would wake up fussing regularly in the night and need Gus and I to help him back to sleep.  

Lying awake after just such an occasion, I recalled that my sister once mentioned the benefits of sleeping children in tents.  Conveniently, this same sister had recently purchased Max a series of kid tents.  Max had played in them a few times, but got easily bored with them, so we hadn't used them much.  This tent, I decided at 3:00am, was the perfect solution to our problem.

So the next morning I set up the tent in Max's room and put his wimpy play pen mattress inside it, with all his stuffed toys and blankets.  What a transformation!  First, I felt like a better parent now that my child had more of a "bed like" structure.  Second, Max absolutely LOVED it.  His past apathy towards the tent was completely transformed.  Somehow tent + bed is MUCH cooler than tent plus other random toys.  It has been three days since we put his bed in the tent and he still can't get enough of it.  He practically lives in that thing.  He rearranges all his stuffed animals, hides under his blankets and just stares lovingly at the tent walls.  Best of all, he sleeps well in it and doesn't really try to get out of bed.  Thanks Wen!

Grandma Gutoski has a night light that plays music and displays a light show on the ceiling.  Normally it doesn't work very well (you can barely see the lights on the ceiling), but in the tent it is quite a spectacular show.  Max was so impressed that he sat in there just staring at the lights and laughing for a full half hour.  Unfortunately, our digital camera has had some recent issues, so we didn't get any good videos.