Little boy in a big-boy bed

I'm in a sad and happy place. It was finally time to get Caden out of his crib and into a big bed. He just couldn't get or stay completely comfortable in the crib anymore, his clubfoot brace bar would smack against the sides when he'd try to roll over, and in the nights he wasn't in the brace, his feet would stick through the crib rails when he'd lay cross-wise in the crib. We'd gotten a bed from a friend, and for a couple of days now it's been in the living room so he could get used to it. He'd lay on it, play on it, seemed to absolutely love the space he had on it, and today I put it up and in his room (we had to wait till today to get the mattress).

His bedroom pre-big-boy-bed:


And after:


'nother view from the door. I had to do just a little rearrangin but everything still fits:


I had this brilliant plan for tonight; I took his crib down this morning after he woke up, and kept him up all day. No nap. I was hoping that he'd just be so ready for bed, so tired, that'd he'd go right to sleep and immediately associate the new fun bed with sleep instead of play. We had bath, snuggle, story, and he fell asleep in my arms sometime during the second verse of "I Am a Child of God". So I gave him one last snuggle and laid him down. Now, Caden's small for his age anyway. But man...this bed just swallows him! SO much bed for such a little boy (just for reference, his feet end only about half of the way between the top of the striped sheet and the top of the blue comforter):



I went grocery shopping afterwards and when I got back - only about an hour after I laid him down - he was crying and the battle of wills between him and his oh-so-comfy bed began. Took him about an hour and a half of me and daddy alternating going in and singing and letting him know this was where he needed to sleep now. It's been about twenty/thirty minutes since the last whimper, so I think he and bed have made friends and he's sleeping (mostly) soundly now. I know he'll be a lot more comfy in this bed. Here's hoping he sleeps through the night.