06 Mar
A Place to Relax in T1′s Room
We moved from an apartment with two bedrooms (where the kitchen was tiny and the living/dining room were the same space) to a house with four bedrooms upstairs and more space than we need downstairs. Reusing items we already owned was essential if we wanted to afford decorating all of it!
One somewhat strange decision I made was to put the futon that we previously used as our couch into T1′s room. We knew we’d be moving him to a floor bed, and I thought this would fill the space nicely. I know that buying a queen frame is a popular option, but it wasn’t something I was quite ready to commit to financially.
Turns out that the futon in his room was a great idea! We have a place to sit while we read books, one of us can sleep in there if he’s having a hard time that night, and we can flip the futon down when we have guests over and have T1 come and sleep with us (something he would love to do every single night if we let him). Our next move will likely mean selling the futon and getting a twin or queen bed for T1, which would definitely be more comfortable for guests. For now though, I’m happy to have a place to lay down at night while T1 snuggled in his bed and we “talk about our day”*. It’s my favorite part of his nighttime routine. And over time we’ve started leaving the futon down all the time, letting T1 choose where he would like to sleep at night. The ability to choose has cut down on his requests to have me lay with him until he falls asleep or to come sleep in my bed with me.
Oh, and if you’re wondering, the shelves displaying the books are from Ikea. Another fun way to fill a lot of space for not a lot of money! Thank you Pinterest. The Children’s Library in Palo Alto is a treasure trove of options, and we often have 30-40 books at a time stacked in the corner of his room as well.
*Talk about our day means I rehash every thing he did that day, with him repeating the last words of each phrase. TW: “First you woke up”, T1:” “Woke up”, TW: “Then you went downstairs and ate breakfast”, T1″Went downstairs, ate breakfast”. Etc,. It’s been a great way to expand his vocabulary! And I like testing him to see how his ability to recall details on his own and not just parrot information is coming along.
Also:
I'm a farm-raised almost-crunchy stroller-pushing picture-taking lifestyle-blog-writing gastronomy-obsessed divine-seeking thrift-store-combing cheese-inhaling pavement-pounding laughter-sprinkling lover of individuality and taking chances.
love it! just pinned it to remember for brady’s room
1Out of curiosity, what’s a “floor bed?”
Jenna Reply:
March 6th, 2013 at 11:31 am
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/montessori-floor-bed-logistics-good-questions-169878
When we transitioned our now-three year old to his own bed, he started to share a room with his brother so he got the bottom bunk (with a bed rail). For the longest time, he would move to the floor in the middle of the night LOL Now, though, he feels he is quite grown up as he no longer needs the bed rail, and likes sleeping in his big boy bed
But he is still “baby” enough to have mum get in bed with him at bedtime for snuggles and stories and songs before he says good night 
3I’m glad you let him sleep on the futon, because that thin mat on the floor looks really uncomfortable.
Andrea Reply:
March 6th, 2013 at 7:35 pm
ditto, probably not the best for his back during his development years.
I’m worried about him sleeping under those shelves if an earthquake happened! I’m a lifelong Californian with Bay Area roots so I know you’ve got to be careful about that sort of thing. Just pointing something out you may not know, being new to CA!
Maybe you could move the shelves lower down? That way he could reach them on his own, and it’s more Montessori-ish too.
Jenna Reply:
March 7th, 2013 at 7:56 am
Have you read that horrible blog post about a little girl crushed by a dresser? We bought safety restraints after that.
Meg Reply:
March 7th, 2013 at 8:45 am
I think she may also be talking about the actual books, which could hurt him if they fell.
HRC Reply:
March 7th, 2013 at 1:54 pm
I don’t think the bed where he sleeps is under the shelving, though, is it? Unless I have misread the blog post, because I don’t think T1 actually sleeps on the futon?
We just moved to the Bay Area and it hadn’t occurred to me to put restraints to hold up our dressers, so I am glad to see this comment thread all the same!
stefanie Reply:
March 7th, 2013 at 5:27 pm
Jenna said they have been leaving the futon in the bed position, giving T1 the choice of where he wants to sleep. I took that to mean that he is at least occasionally sleeping on the futon.
Rachel Reply:
March 8th, 2013 at 3:46 pm
I was about 6 years old during the 89 earthquake. Even though my family had lived in California for about 5 years, the bookshelf at the foot of my bed wasn’t secured to the wall. If I had been at home in my bed during the quake, I would have been crushed to death by the bookshelf. I also had a ton of glass ornaments on there that all broke, and would have caused serious injury to anyone who had been in the room
April Reply:
March 8th, 2013 at 4:55 am
Yeah, I am talking about the books. Those would become projectiles in an earthquake!
My husband and I have implemented some Montessori in the home practices, and I’m curious what other choices you have made in addition to the floor bed to help T1 develop his indendence! I always love getting new bedroom and practical tips.
6Libraries are such awesome resources for children aren’t they? Do they have community events there? Ours has story time…and children’s music…and art activities (for adults and kids actually). And there is a train table in the kid’s section too.
I like the futon. I think they’re comfy and a good use of space. Also I really like those book shelves! Have you considered using a square (ish) basket on the floor for the ones T1 is using (or for library books)…and when T2 starts crawling it might be good idea to use to keep her from the paper pages.
One more thing…do you have one of those kid’s day visual schedules? It may help when you’re going over his day at night or if he is unsure what comes next in the morning. I saw a super cute one with magnetic pieces on someones blog and could probably find the link if you want!
7I love all the books on display! And I <3 the library; it's so great that you are utilizing it!
8I have a couch in my daughter’s room too and it’s awesome. Both my husband and I can fit on it with her, which is really nice for family story time etc. I wish I could put up shelves like that (because it looks so cute!) but since my child is part monkey she would definitely injure herself clambering up them in order to reach the highest books: so we have to stick to low bookcases instead.
9Weren’t you going with a Montessori-style for T1′s room this time? The books are so high I don’t even think I could reach them!
10I love the idea of talking about your day with T1. We cover it a little when we say prayers. Adelaide always wants to say the prayers but often lets me feed her the lines so we say we’re grateful for a lot of the specific things we did that the day. But I think it would be nice to talk about it first and then maybe on the days she feels like saying her own prayer she’ll remember what we talked about. And like you said, such good practice for building vocabulary (something we’re always trying to do with Addie.)
11Jenna, I think you’re missing the point of making things “Montessori.” Everything should be accessible to the child. He can’t exactly reach up there and pick out a book. And a thin mattress next to a dresser and an outlet isn’t Montessori-it’s dangerous.
12so cute to recognize Polish kids books on these shelves; same ones we have btw:)
13FYI for later…my bro sells memory foam mattresses (maybe you already know?) on Amazon under the brand Lucid. He also has steel bed frames on his regular site that are raised high enough so you can store a tall box under and you don’t need a box spring. Score! And remember if you ever want sheets pillows or protectors just order straight through him (or me). I haven’t tried his new gel pillows but i have heard they are amazing.
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