At the moment I'm on the floor with my hands through the cot bars trying to pat him.
aaawwww how cute!
I plan on trying Nina in a big bed from around 15 months as well.

A friend of mine has a 2.5 year old, and she just put him in the big bed without any warning, and as you'd imagine, he hated it! It's been 4 months now and he screams blue murder every night for hours cause he doesn't want to go to bed. I think taking small steps with them is important.