traveling and moving to big bed - need advice on my plan...

[Sleepless in Singapore]

Hello all!!

It has been a while since I have been here which is good news since it means things are going well in our home right now!!   

I have a plan that I wanted to bounce off you and see if anyone can let me know if they think it will work...here is the situation...

We live in Singapore and will be travelling back to Canada for one month in October.  My son is 27 months old (will be 29 months when we go) and is still in his crib sleeping very well.  I also have my daughter who is almost 9 months (will be 11 month when we go).  I need a plan for sleeping while we travel so hee is what I'm thinking....

My daughter will be in the travel cot and i will get her used to it in her room for a couple of weeks before we go and then when we get back get her used to her own room again before puting her back in her cot again.  I did this with my son when he was 15 months old and it seemed to work really well.  Fingers crossed that it will work for her too!!!

Now for my son...he is too big for a travel cot and my parents don't have a cot for him to sleep in when we are there so here's the plan...

Step 1 - I was going to start about 1 month before we leave and I thought of buying a single sized blow up mattress and putting it on the floor in his bedroom to get him used to it being there. 

Step 2 - Then I thought we could get him used to reading his bedtime story with us on it before putting him to bed in his cot.

Step 3 - then eventually just reading him his bedtime story in it and then let him sleep in it and see what happens.  I have read all the 'big bed ' transition stories so I will probably have to do wi/wo and lead him back to bed and all that to get him used to it.

Step 4 - Once he is used to it we could actually bring it with us and it can be his bed wherever we go (first my in-laws and then my parents) and hopefully he will be quite happy to sleep in 'his' bed. 

Step 5 - When we get back I could put it back in his room again and get him used to sleeping on the air mattress in there

Step 6 - then eventually transition him to his 'cot' again but this time we will have converted his cot into a toddler bed (the sides come off and we have rails we can put on). 

Anyone have any advice on whether they think this will work, or can they forsee any problems that might arise (if that is ever possible to forsee with a 2 year old!!!)?  The other issue is that my kids sleep in their own rooms at home but while we are travelling they may have to be in the same room.  Will that be a problem?  Any thoughts?

cheers
Carol

[Florencia]

TO me, your plan sounds PERFECT. It seems you've thought about everything! I think it'll be a smooth transition from crib to bed with the plus of the excitement of seeing the granpas. The only thing that could go wrong (or at least less than perfect) is both kids sleeping together. Specially with your dd who will be in the start of todlerhood with lot of challenging things to learn around that time, she might have to face some sleep disturbances due to development while being there, and hence disrupt your ds's sleep. IF that's the case i can only think of swithing rooms (boys and girls instead of parents and kids) if it turns too annoying.

GOod luck on your trip, have fun and enjoy it!

[Sleepless in Singapore]

Thanks Florencia...I was a bit concerned about the two of them in the same room together too.  We may be able to put them in separate rooms or have one of them in the room with us and the other not...I guess I'll give it some thought.  Although the plan may sound good I definitely don't expect it to work without ANY problems so we do what we can and then take whatever else come up!!!   

Thanks again!!!

Carol