Oh we went through this fun at Christmas time transitioning my son to a toddler bed and moving him into another bedroom.

We managed it by putting a toddler gate on his door, toddler proofing the room, turning off the hallway light and leaving a night light on in his room.

My boy sounds like yours - likes to talk to his toys, happy boy content to play quietly

First couple of nights I went in to "resettle" him and found this created problems. So I left him to play until he'd fall asleep on the floor and pop him in bed.

Within a week he was putting himself to bed once he'd had enough play time.

Sometimes I think the best approach if you've got a kid happy to stay in his room alone without screaming is to allow him to choose when he falls asleep. Stick to your routine and bedtime though - mine waits at the bathroom door at 7pm for someone to run his bath, walks himself to his room with his hoodie towel to get dressed and then happily sits in his daddy's arms being read a story. Then it's kisses and into bed.

As soon as we leave he starts babbling to the toys or some musical toy will sound - we think it's cute and half an hour later is usually met with silence!