Big Girl Bed

We have officially started the transition to Norah's "big girl" bed. She has seen the beds set up in the third bedroom for over a month now, and we have been talking about how they are her beds. I told her that when they are put together they will be bunk beds, just like TJ and Luka sleep in at their house and the lake.

Last weekend I painted one of her walls, so she slept in the third bedroom to avoid the paint fumes. This weekend we set up her bed (only one since I can't help Seth lift the second one on top). We left her crib in the room in case she wasn't comfortable with the transition.

It was all set up by nap time and she was nearly cheering for her nap so she could sleep in her new bed. The wild card in the situation is that we had been rocking her to sleep for her naps. We got into that routine a while back after she consistently wouldn't fall asleep on her own, but seemed to obviously still need the sleep. We were never really happy with the arrangement, but made it work for a while. I had decided that with this transition I really didn't want to do that anymore.

So, we laid on her new bed together to read stories and for about 10 minutes afterward. We talked about how she needs to fall asleep just like she does at school (where they all simply lay on cots and eventually fall asleep).

I call the nap a success. She was quiet (but awake) for 30 about minutes and then started crying. I went in to talk to her again about closing her eyes and falling asleep. She was quiet for another 15 minutes, cried for 20 minutes and then fell asleep for a little over an hour. So who knows whether the struggle was related to her new bed or falling asleep on her own, but I was happy that she at least eventually fell asleep.

When I went in to get her, the quilt was smashed up in one corner, the sheets were all over the place, she had moved two throw pillows from the bottom of her bed to the top, she had managed to pull the pillow from her crib up to her bed, the back of her hair was literally soaking wet with sweat, she had crease marks all over her body, and she had a massive poop.

It wasn't a super pleasant awakening for her.

I later asked her whether she wanted to sleep in her bed or crib that night and she said, "In my crib. I go poopie in my bed." But then the closer we got to bedtime the more she said she wanted to sleep in her bed.

Another wild card in the situation is that Seth and I had plans to go to dinner to celebrate his birthday, so we had a babysitter coming. Not great for Norah's first potential night in her bed. So we told her multiple times that she could sleep wherever she wanted (which we would have done even if we had been there). Turns out she chose the crib.

So, we'll see what happens tonight!

Pictures of the room will be coming soon, but we're not quite there yet. In the meantime, here are some that we took yesterday.