Toddler Bed

Last Thursday Eva decided to make the leap from baby crib to toddler bed. Literally. During nap time she refused to sleep and apparently spent her time alone learning to to climb out of the crib. Yikes! So I did what any good mama would do....I asked all my facebook mom friends what I should do. The consensus was pretty clear - move her to a big girl bed.  I was super nervous. My little girl is so full of energy that I was worried that she might never stay in a regular bed. But I knew it was time to give it a try. We considered putting her in the full size bed we have but she wasn't tall enough to climb up onto it. I knew she could climb out but I wanted her to be able to get back in! Luckily her crib converted to a toddler bed and that option has worked great for us so far! I've waited almost a full week to post anything because I didn't want to jinx us....and knowing toddlers I realize that anything can change at any moment....so please know that I'm posting this update with humble hopefulness for continued nights of good sleep :)

How seriously adorable is this tiny daybed? We had to take her crib skirt off a year ago when we lowered the mattress to the lowest level but now without the front piece there we can use it again! This bed skirt was one of my favorite parts of the baby bedding we chose for her. You can't see it that great in the picture but it has ruffly inserts that match her polka dotted sheet. A friend gave us separately the blanket with Eva's monogram and it matches everything so well and is the perfect size blanket for a toddler bed.  Who wouldn't want to sleep in such a cute bed?

 

Eva is doing so great sleeping in her new bed. The first night we talked to her about how proud we were that she was a big girl now and how it was important to stay in bed so she wouldn't be tired in the morning. She got up once that first night, walked to her door, and then climbed right back in bed. {Sidenote: I know lots of people leave the door open for their child. We have always kept it shut so we continued that since she is used to it. We figured it would bother her more if we left it open. Plus we have stairs and didn't want her wondering down stairs in the night if she did wake up.} The first morning she woke up a bit early so I went in and told her to try to keep sleeping and she did. I've heard other moms say that sometimes kids actually sleep better in a regular bed and that's kind of been true. Even on the night that Ryan put her to bed because I was out she did fine and slept through the night. A couple of times at naptime she has popped up but she generally goes right back to her bed. She knows we can see her on the video monitor and the one time she started opening her dresser drawer I walked right in and put her back on the bed so she hasn't tried playing around very much. 

Speaking of the video monitor - I love this thing! I love watching her play with her baby doll. I love seeing her snuggle up on her pillow. I love her sleepy stillness. It has also been helpful to see her fall out of bed. I didn't realize before that she loves to sleep completely on top of her pillow, as in her whole body lying across it. Instead of a bed rail we just put 2 pillows on the floor so when she does slide out it doens't hurt and she always just climbs right back up and goes back to sleep. Also now she is so quiet when she does wake up that she will seriously just go stand by her bedroom door and not make a sound. I've told her that when she wakes up she can knock on her door and call for me. She always had a loud "mommy....Mommy...MOMMY!" wake up call before in her crib so I'm not sure why she is so quiet now.  She is pretty consistent on her wake up times in the morning and after her nap so I know when to be looking for her on the monitor and I'm guessing she would call for me if she got tired of waiting.

From the wisdom of others we did decide to wait on getting rid of her binkie. I am so proud of her for adjusting to her toddler bed and if she had been distraught over loosing her binkie I wouldn't have known if it was the bed or the pacifier she was crying about. I know the day will come for saying goodbye to her beloved binkie but today is not the day yet. Oh my goodness, I love my little girl so much. Her sweet sleepy face, her warm snuggles....she is my favorite. Thank you to our friends and family that said prayers for this transition. Sleep is truly a blessing!