Toddler Transitions

Today marks the beginning of my third trimester.  Only 3 months until our house holds not one, but two little ones.  As that due date draws ever nearer, we have been slowly beginning to prepare for the coming changes.  One of the transitions that we attempted this week was to move Emma Grace from her crib to a big girl bed.

Now, when I say big girl bed, I really just mean "mattress on the floor."  Emma Grace is quite mobile in her sleep, and any bed higher than a few inches off the ground made me nervous.  She has had a daybed in her room since she was born, and luckily that daybed came with a trundle bed underneath.  It has always been my plan to use that for her first real "bed."

I wanted to make the bed transition in January so that Emma Grace would have a few months to get used to it.  I don't want her to associate her little sister with too many unpleasant changes, so this was one thing we could go on and implement ahead of time.  I ordered her some cute owl bedding from Target.com soon after Christmas, and it arrived this week.  On Tuesday, I washed the new sheets, pulled out the trundle, and got the mattress ready for its new little occupant.

Now, Tuesday was kind of an off day for Emma Grace.  She had gone to bed late the night before and slept late that morning.  That pushed her naptime back until 4 p.m., during which she slept 3 hours.  Normally her bedtime is at 7:30 p.m.  We probably would have been wiser to wait until a more regular day to try out the new bed, but once she saw it, there was no putting it up.

She was super excited about this new thing to explore. She dove on it, rolled on it, and played with Daddy on it for awhile.  She even seemed to know what it was for.  At one point she laid down on with her blankets and said, "Night, night."

Around 8:15 p.m., we started our bedtime routine. She brushed her teeth, we sat on the bed and read a book, said our prayers, and then I tucked her in and went to turn out the lights.

The sweet position above lasted about half a second after I closed the door. I heard a roll, a crash, and a cry, so I went back in. She had rolled off the bed and into the crib trying to get to the door.  I kept the lights off and let her sit in my lap while I rocked her on the bed.  She eventually got drowsy and let me lay her down and leave the room.

All was peaceful...for about 10 minutes.  Then I started to hear noises on the monitor.  Crinkles, shuffles, thumps, bumps, and more.  I spent the next hour going back and forth in her room, seeing what she had gotten into and replacing her in the bed.  Being a bit shortsighted, I had left a ton of stuff on the top of her daybed, forgetting she could now reach that once forbidden place. First trip, I cleaned everything off the daybed and put it in the crib.  Second trip, I took the things out of the crib that she was trying to pull through the bars.  Third trip, I moved the monitor that she could now reach when on the bed.

Finally, she must have worn herself out.  At 9:30 p.m. I went in and found her sitting on the daybed. I said, "It's time to go night night." (thinking I was about to admit defeat and contain her in the crib).  She slid off the bed, grabbed her blankets, and immediately got into her sleeping position on the mattress.  I said good night, left the room, and waited for the inevitable sound of the mini tornado at work.  But it never came.  When we checked on her later, she was asleep on the little bed. Success!

But the silliness of Emma Grace did not end with her falling asleep.  I woke up around midnight and went to check on her.  She had somehow moved off the bed and onto the tiny strip of floor between the crib and the mattress without waking herself up. I didn't want to disturb her, so I left her there.

Around 1:30 a.m., I heard a cry on the monitor and went back to check on her.  She was still sleeping, but now had her head wedged between the crib leg and the changing table--still asleep.  This time I picked her up and placed her back on the bed, where she stayed until the next morning.

I considered this a mild success, but still had reservations about how bedtime was going to go.  But after night #2, I can say with some measure of confidence that I think the transition is going to be a successful one. 

Wednesdays are always long for our family because of church.  On this particular Wednesday, Emma Grace slept late again (due to the 9:30 p.m. bedtime of the night before) and had no nap.  By the time we got home from church, she was worn out.  I wasn't sure how bedtime would go, but we pulled out the mattress and did our little routine just like the night before.  When I left the room, she was sitting up on the mattress watching me go.  I anticipated another marathon event like Tuesday, but I was pleasantly surprised.  She never made a peep on the monitor, and I am assuming she fell over asleep from where she was sitting because that is exactly where we found her before we went to bed.  She slept the whole night through without a sound.

So far, the new bed seems to be working out well.  Actually, I guess I should say the new sleeping arrangement, because she has yet to stay the whole night in the bed.  This morning when we checked on her, she was again on the floor--this time right next to the door.  So we'll have to work on the "staying in the bed" concept, but on the whole I'd say this transition is a success!