The Big Boy Bed.

Just before David turned three, we decided it was time to start shopping for a toddler bed for him. We asked him whether he'd like to sleep in a bigger bed and he would reply "No!". After browsing multiple websites and visiting a few stores, I came across a bed that Seth liked a lot. We showed it to David and the familiar grin showed up on his face and that was it. That was the bed. Honestly, if it was up to me, any box that could hold a twin mattress would be good for my son. Seth believes that this would be the sort of bed he would have liked as a kid. Basically, it came to Seth choosing a bed for David and I will for Julia. Of course, since David now has a solid wood loft bed to sleep in, I don't think it will be fair to choose a metal box to house Julia's next bed.
The bed was delivered last week while David was at school, so the first to test it was Julia (if only David knew). She loves it so much that now I am thinking we might get the same one for her in a couple of years.

After I picked up David from school, I told him that there wass a surprise waiting for him at home and without missing a beat, he replied "big boy bed!" (Sometimes he's pretty sharp!) Anyway, I thought it would be fun to capture his expression when he saw it for the first time and I wasn't disappointed!

He started climbing it up and down right away.

Of course, two minutes into the exploration of his new bed, who shows up -- Julia. I forgot to close the gate downstairs and she had followed us! As soon as Julia started up the ladder, David was there to pull her down. David growled at Julia, "go to your baby bed", and started pushing her to his old crib which still sits in his room. There were a lot of tears and I had to remove both of them from his room...

...but not before he opened all of the drawers in the new dresser to plan out where he'll organize his wardrobe.

I was concerned that he would end up "playing" in the new bed and refuse to fall asleep, but there hasn't been any trouble. He's been taking his daily naps and sleeping through the night in the new bed.
There is one small issue, however. After getting the bed set up, we noticed that there was a warning label on each headboard, advising the consumer that the bed wasn't intended for kids under 6 years old. Since there aren't any small parts to swallow, we're going to assume the concern is over the height of the bed. Well, after watching him navigate different playgrounds for a while, he's usually very careful and won't navigate anything that he's not been ready for. Taking that into consideration (and crossing our fingers) we're sure he'll be fine.