The moon and stars in her dream
Written: Feb 22 '01
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Steady, easy to set up, safe, low height, the glowing headboard
Cons: haven't found yet
The Bottom Line: I highly recommend this toddler bed. You might think the glowing headboard in not necessary, but what can be more precious than giving your toddler a little wonder...
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| augustwind's Full Review: Graco Glow-in-the Dark Toddler Bed |
We got our Graco Glow-in-the Dark toddler bed from our friends. Their daughter just switched to a normal twin-size bed, and they are willing to let us try the toddler bed before we decide whether to buy it or not.
Our daughter is 28 month-old now. She has been sleeping in the crib since she was four-month-old. Ever since she was two-year-old, I have been thinking about getting her a toddler bed. And I have been looking through all the information on different type of toddler beds. Somehow, I just could not make up my mind. Let me tell you why.
My reasons for buying her a toddler bed are:
First, she has grown quite a lot during the last half of year. As a result, she is tall enough now that she can easily climb over the side rails of the crib when we set the rails at lower level. Even with the rails at the highest lever and the mattress at the lowest lever, she is already able to rest one of her legs on the top of the rail. It won’t be long before she can climb out of the crib freely.
Second, as she grows up, she seems to have real dream now in sleep. Whenever she wakes up from a bad one, her usually reaction is to sit up or stand up, and try to leave the crib as if there is something terrible in there. I can usually wake up early enough and calm her down. But one time when I wake up from her cry, she already had one of her leg on the bed rail and attempting to climb out. I don’t have to tell you how scared I am. She could easily hurt herself since she was practically still in sleep and it was dark in the room.
Third, she loves to play a game of putting her little arms and feet in between the bed rails and pulling them out. We probably should have been stricter to stop her playing this when she first started. But she was so small at the time, and the spacing between the rails seem wide enough that she could not hurt herself that way. So we didn’t really enforce her to stop the game. But now she is over two and over 30 lbs, her arms and feet move much less smoothly in between the rails. I am afraid that only way to prevent her from hurting herself in the future is to put her into a bed with even wide rails or no side rails at all.
Now comes my reason of hesitation:
The main reason of my hesitation is due to the fact that my daughter does not sleep very sound during the night. She speaks in sleep, turns often in her sleep, and sometimes even sits up or stands up during the sleep. When she sits up or stands up, her eyes are usually closed as she is still in her dream. And in a few minutes she would drop to any direction and continue her sleep. Without the restrain of the side rails of the crib, I am afraid she could easily fall to the ground one this kind of movement.
We are lucky in the sense that our friends provided us the chance to try the toddler bed before buying it. I convinced myself that I would give my daughter a week or two to try the toddler bed. I also decided to place the bad right next to our bed, in case she sits up again during the night, maybe I can wake up early enough so I can catch up before she falls to the ground.
Let me give you a detail description on the bed we got from our friends:
I have read information about toddler beds for a while. I have heard Graco Glow-in-the Dark bed before. So when my friend told me what they had, I was happy that it was this type not the classical one. Personally, I think the glowing board is a great idea, whether it works for a toddler, who knows? Also, it costs about 20 dollars or so more than the classical one. Without trying it, how would I know if I am willing to spend more money for something my daughter might or might not like? I am really grateful that my friends gave us the chance to try it.
The bed is very light-weighted. I can lift the whole frame with the headboard very easily and carried it from the car to the bedroom. The frame is all white, with the headboard in blue with moon and stars on it. The crib mattress fits well to the frame, and all the crib beddings fit well too on this bed.
Two side rails are detachable. And they clap onto the headboard and the frame easily and from inside out. So I can easily see that if my daughter sleeps against them, they would sustain her weight quite well. The rails go two-third of the way from the headboard, leaving open space on each side so the toddlers can climb in and out the bed by themselves easily. Also, the spacing between the rails are much larger than the side rails for the crib.
The frame is made from steel. It seems strong and sturdy enough. After set the mattress on it, I sit on it and tumble a little to try for the steadiness and strength of the whole frame. It makes me feel that my daughter could jump on it without flipping it over. My daughter hasn’t jump hard on it yet, so I can’t say whether it can sustain long time jumping.
The height of the whole frame is the most satisfying part for me. It is really low, only about half of the height of the twin size bed. It makes really easy for my daughter to climb in and out. But most important, the low height makes me feel easier on the thought that my daughter falls out from the openings. With that kind of height, she would have not way to hurt herself.
Now let’s talk about the headboard. I have said I like the moon and the stars. But I have no idea how my daughter would like it. She already seemed to be interested in the moon and the stars when she first saw them. She even counted the stars (with my help, of course). For the rest of the day, she would mention several times that she had a new bed with one moon and nine stars.
During the bath time, I started to tell her that those moon and stars would glow in the dark. She seemed to have difficult to understand what “glow” means. But as we finished bath and get into the bedroom in dark, her eyes glowed immediately as she saw the moon and stars glowed in the dark. Of course the glow didn’t last forever, but I can tell you the glow in her eyes last a lot longer.
It is probably not so great an idea to get her so excited before bed. We had a little hard time to calm her down the first night. She kept sitting up, looking and touching the headboard again and again. But eventually she fell into sleep. The next day when she woke up, the first thing she did was to look for the moon and stars again and touch them.
I am really glad to find out that she was not as excited the following nights as the first night. Instead, every time we mention her little bed or it’s her time to go to sleep, she gives this sweetest smile and saying “I have the moon and stars on my bed”. Her expression on the face is as if saying, “I have the world!”
Now she has been in this bed for a week. During this week, she sat up twice during her sleep, once falling back to her pillow, the other time falling towards the openings at the side. I caught her before she fell to the ground. But even if she did, I would not be very worried. For I already placed two pillows on the carpet by the openings. If I did not catch her, the worst thing could happen might be her sleeping on those pillows for the rest of the night.
We have decided to buy the bed from our friends. I thank them a lot for allowing us to try it before buying. Without their kindness, I probably will go for the one without the glowing headboard if I decide to buy it at store. I know my daughter loves it too. Before this bed, she already understands that moon and stars are in the sky. When they come out at night, it is time for her to go to bed. Now she thinks she has the moon and stars. And I believe they are in her dreams too: the dark blue sky, the glowing moon and stars, and my little angel is counting: one, two, three…
Sweet dreams, my sweetheart!
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
augustwind
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Reviews written: 87
Trusted by: 45 members
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