Big Girl Bed

Awhile back, I talked about Elaina climbing out of her crib.  Shortly thereafter, I converted her crib into a toddler bed, afraid that she’d break her neck climbing out. 

I’m happy to report that Elaina made the transition from crib to toddler bed just fine. 

As you can see, there’s a heavily pillowed zone next to the bed.  I discovered the necessity of that on the first night with the help of a very upset little girl who had rolled out of bed.  In retrospect, I don’t know what I could have been thinking—of course, she rolled out of bed her first night without the 4th wall.  I feel really bad that I didn’t anticipate that. 

Another thing I didn’t anticipate was the disruption that the change from crib to toddler bed would cause.  I thought this new freedom would be a completely desirable scenario for Elaina.  I mean, she was going to great lengths to escape her crib, why wouldn’t she welcome the change to a toddler bed?  Apparently, any change is a little off-putting, even if it’s what one wants.  It took her several nights to get comfortable with the new bed, and during that time, she returned to needing Heidi or me to stay with her until she fell asleep. 

Eventually, though, she got used to it and started taking advantage of her new freedom.  Mostly, “taking advantage of her new freedom” meant taking all the clothes out of her dresser, climbing in and out of the wardrobe, getting her hands of a package of wipes and spreading them out all over the room, that sort of thing.  This too, passed with time.  (Well, not the climbing in and out of the wardrobe; but at least her clothes mostly stay in the dresser now and I’ve learned to keep boxes of wipes well out of her ever-increasing reach).

For awhile now, she’s returned to going to bed on her own.  Lately, I’m even less necessary than before.  I used to rock her every night and tell her a story.  I still start that, but she’s been cutting me off, really before I really get started, saying “Bed? Bed?”.  So, I just kiss her goodnight, tuck her in with Duck and her other bedtime friends, and leave the room.  I guess I need to make my stories a little more entertaining if I’m going to get some more time in the rocker with her.

And as you can see, I’ve continued the outrageously foolhardy practice of sneaking into her room at naptime to take her picture.

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