Category: Arjun & Saajan’s Antics

I’d been pondering over the idea on whether to move Arjun in to a bed for a while. I got lots of mixed responses but ultimately I knew I wanted to do what was best for him. Every child is different. Here are the reasons why I felt he was ready:

• I often noticed he felt agitated being confined in his cot bed
• He can now climb up and down a bed by himself so I knew he had the freedom to get out if he needed to and being restricted to do so was frustrating for him
• As it feels like he’s suddenly grown over the last few weeks – he’s no longer a baby 🙁

Just before Christmas, I was speaking to a colleague at work who has a baby the same age as Arjun and who’d recently moved her baby girl from a cot to a bed. Kelly’s positive experience inspired me and pushed me over the edge to give it a go!

I woke up the next morning and decided I wanted to remove the side bar of Arjun’s cot bed to make it a bed.

I spent the day rearranging bits of Arjun’s room by moving all his toys from our bedroom in to his. I also included a little table for him and removed his baby cot mobile and replaced it with the clouds mobile I was gifted. I hung up his first year timeline from his birthday party so that the room felt different and more exciting for him in line with the change from cot to bed. Arjun was really excited by his new room and spent part of the day building towers and playing with his cars in his room. It made me happy to see him feel so comfortable in his, what felt like new, surroundings.

That evening, Preetam removed the side bar. I hadn’t purchased a bed guard at this point as the decision was quite spontaneous – the same way it was when I’d decided Arjun was ready to move from our bedroom to his own, I’d made the right decision then so I trusted my gut this time too. As we didn’t have a cot guard, I cushioned the floor incase he did fall off and ordered one from Amazon Prime that same evening for it to be delivered the next day.  I carefully selected the guard based on reviews and recommendations.   We ended up going for the BabyDan Wooden Bed Guard in white to match the nursery furniture.

I immediately noticed a positive reaction from Arjun, he climbed in to his bed himself and jumped out himself putting his teddies on the pillow one by one patting them to sleep. It was so adorable! By the time he’d placed all his teddies on the pillow, he was left with no space to sleep himself! Haha! So he awkwardly plumped himself on the other side. He asked my sister to read him a book (the same one about ten times!), and once he was done, he kissed Mr Sun goodnight about ten times (his new favourite thing is The Gro Clock), kissed me good night and lay down. He didn’t cry when we left the room. This was something new for me – I think the fact that he didn’t feel trapped made him feel less claustrophobic.

He toddled in to our room ten minutes later carrying his blanky asking for a cuddle. He ended up falling asleep in our bed (which is the case most nights!) and we then moved him in to his own cot. Arjun slept through the night and came in to our room at about 6am the following morning. It was the sweetest thing ever!

We introduced the bed guard the following day and are so pleased with it. I was a little apprehensive on how he’d react to it as I didn’t want him to feel trapped again. Nor did I want him to stand up against it and topple over. The BabyDan Wooden Bed Guard feels sturdy and it’s easy to glide across if you want to change the positioning. The instructions suggest you attach it around the mattress, however we decided to put it around the base of the cot just under the mattress. We positioned it closer to where his head lays than the by his feet as we wanted to ensure he has enough room to be able to get out of the bed if he wishes without the need to try and jump over.

We’re really glad with how things are going since transitioning, although most nights Arjun prefers to fall asleep in our bed and we then move him in to his own, if he’s in a really tired state, he’ll happily fall asleep in his bed. 

If he does wake during the night, there are no more tears, he gets out of his cot and comes in to our room where we’ll have cuddles and he’ll usually fall back asleep. We have sensor lights in the landing which means the moment he steps out of his bedroom, the hall way lights up making it safe for him. We also ensure the other bedroom and bathroom doors are closed as well as the stair gate being locked. The quality of our sleep as well as his has definitely improved too! Haha!
  

As well as better sleep and generally being more at peace, Arjun often gets in to his bed by himself to read a book or play with his teddies. Something he never did in his cot! 

Kelly had shared with me how she’d purchased new bedding when introducing the bed to her daughter. I really wanted to do this for Arjun too but as it was such a spontaneous decision, I didn’t get the chance to. Luckily Arjun was more than excited by the prospect of not having a barrier preventing him from escaping than noticing his bedding.

It’s now on my to do list to order some super cute bedding! I’ll also be introducing him to his new duck feather duvet for these winter nights 

When did you move your babies to a bed?x

We visited Santa at the Harrods Grotto last year too and I think it’s already become a bit of a family tradition to go every year! Arjun was only 6 months last year and it’s hard to believe a year has passed by already!

We decided to also book the afternoon tea this year as we’ve not tried the Harrods afternoon tea before and also Arjun would be able to enjoy it with us.
 

Our slot to meet Santa was booked for 12.30 and afternoon tea was at 1.30 – a little bit later than Arjun’s usual lunch time but he had a quick pouch before going in meet Santa to tie him over till lunch. 

You’re required to queue up at the designated time slot to meet Santa so if you do go earlier, be prepared to have to kill time (and spend money!) whilst waiting.  We ended up getting there about half an hour earlier so walked around.  It was really warm and Arjun doesn’t take too kindly to the heat so got frustrated after a little while.

Thankfully, by the time we were queuing, he was in much better spirits. There are several little games for children to play – they had the same last year but we didn’t get to enjoy any of them as Arjun was too small to play.  

This year they had a presents sorting game which Arjun absoltueloy loved (it was similar to basketball for him!).  He didn’t want to move from this game but the staff were super friendly and patient and were more than happy to have him which was really nice.

The second was a scale for children (and parents) to stand on which indicates whether you’ve been a good girl/boy this year to report back to Santa.  Arjun didn’t really know what was going on here but was happy to stand on it.

 
The third was another he loved – a giant walk on piano.  He spent ages walking up and down making music.

If you’re after a grotto that has lots of reindeers and the traditional niceties like letter writing to Santa, this isn’t that place but the games and  decor kept Arjun really entertained till it came to our turn to meet Santa. I’m not sure older kids would be as entertained. 

There are two places that pictures get taken, one on a scene setter – last year’s was a sleigh, and this years were large boxes infront of a festive backdrop. I personally preferred last years.  The second is with Santa.

    
We got in to meet Santa and were immediately impressed by the fact that Santa is now bi-lingual! He greeted us with “Satsriakal tusi teek ho” (hello and “how are you” in Punjabi) and Arjun immediately warmed to him! I was a bit apprehensive about how he’d react to Santa – he was super happy last year but this year I knew he’d be more aware and you often hear of children reacting to Santa badly.  But Arjun loved him.  Perhaps as he’s used to long beards from his granddaddies. 

Santa asked Arjun what he’d like for Christmas, to which Arjun jumped off and walked towards the fireplace and pointed towards a little mouse figurine – lucky for Santa as the gift was a jingle box with a picture of a mouse on one side! How’s that for luck!? In addition to the jingle box, his little toy satchel included a giant chocolate coin and a badge which he refused to part with!

We then went to view our pictures – they didn’t come out great (only one of each where we’re all looking at the camera!) but we purchased two for our keepsake. It took a while for them to process due to some issue or another with the till which resulted in a very grumpy and hungry Arjun!

We then headed to The Georgian for afternoon tea.  I love how spacious and open the setting is here.  Everything is also super fancy although not the same extent as the afternoon tea at The Dorchester.  It’s a lot more casual and the spread of food isn’t as great.  However, it was all yummy.  Arjun really enjoyed a plain scone and my favourite thing was the chocolate brownie – the best I’ve ever tasted!

    
 
   
   
After Harrods, we spontaneously decided to head to Winter Wonderland.  We’d parked our car at the Cadogan Place NCP car park where we bagged an absolute bargin by booking in advance as it was on offer from £80 for the whole day to £10!  The location of the car park is central to Hyde Park and Harrods so Winter Wonderland was a short distance away and we were all in a good mood!

Again, we’d visited here last year but we’d booked the grotto a lot later in the month and closer to Christmas which meant Winter Wonderland was absolutely rammed!  This year it was a lot more enjoyable for several reasons.  Firstly because it wasn’t so chaotic and you could actually enjoy walking around without bumping in to others.  Secondly Arjun could enjoy it this year as he’s a lot more aware of his surroundings.

 I was so excited to take him to Santa Land given he’d appreciate it more this year than last! He got to enjoy two rides (one he went on twice!), got to meet Santa again (wow twice in one day!) and he got gifted his favorite thing ever – STICKERS!
  

    
    
   
I was also impressed by the increase in vegetarian food available this year – I’m not sure if we missed it all last year due to the rush or if there is a genuine increase in presence of veggie food but I was gutted that I’d just eaten and couldn’t enjoy all the yummy stuff they had!

  
All in all, we had a fabulous family day out!x