Bunking up at bedtime is such a thrill for the little 'un

There were a few anxious days of waiting, a few frantic phone calls, sleepless nights but come Wednesday school pick-up I was delighted to announce to the little man he was the new proud owner of his long-awaited “big boy bed.”

The smile was a picture, even the lollipop man was given the good news as he skipped his way to the car not wanting to wait a minute longer. “Do I have to close my eyes?”

The little lad had wanted a new bed for quite a while – the problem with the second child is you probably do tend to stretch out on those extra investments until absolutely necessary.

Add in procrastination and the sense of dread of tending two children around furniture stores on a weekend – cue death stares in HomeSense.

‘New things’ even those of the flat-packed variety are a source of genuine excitement for child number two, especially when there’s that feeling of getting one up on the elder one.

In this case, bunk beds.

It was with a sense of relief and trepidation, we carefully dismantled the final pieces of the baby years as the trusty cot bed which had served us well came down. The hours I’d poured over ‘Which’ best buys so painstakingly during the first pregnancy, reading each and every safety review and how to guides on mattress buying for babies.

It was all a little pointless come the arrival of our ‘surprise’ addition 19 months later; the poor lad spent his first six months in a travel cot, due to home renovations and the burden of first-time parenthood taking its toll meant we couldn’t actually be bothered putting the cot back together, let alone investing in a new ‘breathable’ mattress.

The mum guilt only really hit home as he turned four last month and after finding him one morning too many on his bedroom carpet because it was more comfy.

This little man is quite specific when it comes to his requests.

You see there had to be a ladder but not with drawers underneath it – bunk beds. He wanted bunk beds.

It needed to be cosy, check, have a space for the penguin, check, and two beds, one for him to sleep on the top and the bottom one for his elder sister, if she was nice to him... sadly this doesn’t come part of the product guarantee.

The instructions were concise unlike the ones which came with our online purchase. Grandad, who always takes charge of building stuff, has a meticulous approach; he even reads the instructions before he starts.

It began badly with Step 1; Parts A & B did not fit to Part U but Part M. This forced him to jump to Step 5 to check on Part M, which really upset his system.

He blamed this interruption for him putting Part M on upside down. Twice. Step 3 was even worse as we now needed 56 screws but had only six.

A mere four hours later, the bed was ready for its unveiling.

As with all such ‘milestones’ in the modern age of such it is par of course to record the moment to share with anyone who might be the faintest bit interested in your latest piece of flat-pack furniture.

Really it was for the benefit of Grandad who had spent the best part of the day putting it together – such small things.

On one end, the bed had a disclaimer of death for any child under the age of six. The response was quite smart: “Well let’s just pretend I’m six then mummy.”

It’s difficult to argue such logic with a four-year-old.

Needless to say, I tucked him in snug as a bug, within an inch of his life.

All was going well.

The new bed too is the new ruse to make bedtimes in our house that little more seamless, which is no easy task due to the issues of bed bugs, monsters, foxes, being too hot, too cold, thirsty, needing the toilet, another story, being hungry, thinking its already morning, remembering you had a tummy ache tomorrow.....

So now we're bedded down for musical beds – yeh!