Cot/Bed or mattress?

Don't mess with me. I'm "grumpy without chocolate".

Excitement is mounting in the Tan family as Gary (Terence's brother) is expecting his first kid in a few weeks time. So we've been passing on the baby stuff we don't need (for now) to him, and that would eventually include the cot that Kai's using now.

Kai is gradually outgrowing his cot, which was handed down to us from the Tays. We've been debating about what we need to get for months now, and our conclusion always changes. Do we get:
1. A cot that turns into a toddler's bed?
2. A toddler's bed (with rails, if there's such a thing)?
3. A mattress until he's old enough for a bed?

Just what do other mothers do?

According to what I call the "Mother's bible"--"What to expect the toddler years", a toddler should/could move from a cot to a toddler's bed when he turns two. OK, so we thought to let him sleep on a mattress until he turns two, and we'd move him into a bed. Then I thought, and I thought, and I thought (for a night):
1. What if he doesn't want to sleep, and he goes wandering around his bedroom to play.
2. He wakes up in the middle of the night, and decides to play.
3. He gets into trouble with god-knows-what even after we've super-childproofed his room in the middle of the night.

So when Terence woke up the next day, we debated over the issue yet again. We finally decided *drum roll please* to get him a bigger cot that turns into a toddler's bed.

BUT, that doesn't signal the end of our dilemma. We still have to search for a bed that we ALL like.

We've gone to:
1. Baby's Hyperstore (the mother of all warehouse store for baby products in Kaki Bukit)
2. Mothercare (the outlets in Parkway Parade and Centrepoint)
3. Kiddy Palace (Parkway Parade)
4. Mothers Work
5. The ultra nice, but super expensive Flexa store in United Square (it's from Denmark, that's why)
6. Ikea (Tampines)

We still don't have a new cot yet. However, I'm glad to say the solution is near... We've finally shortlisted a model we like from Mothercare and we're going to check out the options at Mothers Work tomorrow (I think).

Wish us luck...