Big Girl Bed

For a few months now we have been tossing around the idea of turning Leas crib into a toddler bed (she has a convertible crib, pics to follow!). I did some research on the subject to try and figure out when is the right time to make the switch. Everything I read said that it’s most commonly done when another sibling is born and the crib is needed or, the toddler is able to climb out of the crib and thus could potentially hurt themselves. Neither of these apply in our case. The girls are so close in age that we just went ahead and purchased a second crib for Anna. But, Lea had been fighting sleep at night, didn’t like to go down for naps and crying for at least 10-15 minutes every night before falling asleep. We thought that maybe the change would be exciting and that she no longer liked feeling confined.

a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv9N8l1W5AL0BWR8Ia_RpCwhMM5dexz4CnFFV6MpDvvcdMlaTKvRuCVyCEB8ftAoIooZCfZ4fpjhtD414vEgHaH_Q3h-z0YZVx-p0TOB320xWL68-exzfwHRR9LNZcDtY0YGHuGjq86Uk/s1600-h/feb24+003.jpg">

Leas crib when she was a baby. Notice the Tinkerbell Pictures and the raised mattress! Seems so long ago!

Tinkerbell has mostly been replaced by Dora. Oh how my daughter loves her!

Of course it’s not quite that simple. We had to decide whether to put a lock on her door, on the inside so that she could not open the door and get out during the night, to put a gate at her door, or just to leave her be. We decided that since there’s a gate at the top of the stairs that we would not lock her in her room unless absolutely necessary but she will be limited to upstairs only and it will not be encouraged. Should we decide that that is not working, we can look at putting a lock on her door. Besides, she likes her door to be left open “a little bit”, and we would not be able to do that if it was locked.

Lea then! With the rail up.

Lea now in her big girl bed!

So, we got covers for the electrical switches, I hemmed her curtains so they were shorter and I made sure to move all the breakables and that there was nothing unsafe in her room and we decided to give it a try. We of course waited for Bee’s seven days off just in case the transition was more difficult than we had expected. In all reality, we were prepared for a battle. We were prepared to be up all night ushering her back to her room. We had decided very early on that we were not going to allow her to sleep in our bed with us during the night (I’ve ok’d it for morning time when Bee goes to work since she hears him and comes into my room for cuddles and usually falls back asleep).

Doesn't she look comfy!

That first night, we started a new routine. She gets to sit on her bed with her blanket and toys and we read her a story. Then it’s lights out, music on and bedtime. She got up about 10 times the first night, all within the first hour. We used the Supernanny “back to bed” technique, basically just talking to her the first time and then limiting conversation every other time as we put her back to bed. Eventually she fell asleep. She was asleep for about an hour when he heard a bang and a cry. Bee was upstairs and rushed into her room to see if she was alright. She had rolled out of bed. She must have been half asleep still because she climbed back into bed, cried for a few minutes and went back to sleep. We put a body pillow on the floor beside her bed just in case. Each night after that first got easier and easier and now, she will go down without even crying! It’s such a nice change. It’s not perfect and we still have “off” nights but on the whole the transition has been much easier than either of us had expected.

Her bear hook that has been handed down through Bees family

Thefairy that her Nana got her in Buenos Aires. There's quite the story about her!

Those letters used to be on her dresser but I have caught her playing with them one too many times so they now rest on this frame. I was thinking of putting pictures of us in there for her. But I really like the flowers too!

I must say that there’s nothing quite as unnerving as waking up at 4am with your toddler staring at you. I think I’ve gotten used to her sounds because I now hear her coming!