The Great Big Girl Bed Experiment

On Sunday after a few days of build up, we took the front rail off of Bunny's crib and turned it into a toddler bed.

She was over the moon. She kept getting in and out of the bed with a huge smile on her face.

I was not as excited. You see, her crib was like a toddler cage. Even if she did not want to be in it, she did not climb out of it. Well she did once but she fell and never did it again. I could put her down for a nap or to bed at night and there she would stay. She might scream bloody murder but I knew she was safely contained.

So right after we put her down on Sunday night, she climbed right out of bed and headed for the door. The door was closed so she doesn't have to deal with meowing (and sometimes peeing) cats jumping in and out of her bed like mommy does. So she grabbed the door handle and tried with all of her might to open the door. She was unsuccessful, for now. But she is just like a Velociraptor and will figure that out in a few days.

So I went in, put her back in bed and read her another book. And you know what? She stayed in bed playing, eventually falling asleep. She stayed there until morning. Halleluja!

Yesterday at naptime we were not so lucky. She didn't try to escape but she brought the entire contents of her bookcase into her bed. And then proceeded to cry that there was not enough room, the books weren't staying where she wanted, the stuffed animals were not cooperating with the books. You name it, she cried about it. Total drama. Just when I thought she had fallen asleep, I hear a knock at the door "Momma, I pooped."

Great. Naptime officially over with no actual napping.

No nap led to a sleepy toddler nodding off in her dinner. She fell asleep at 7 and stayed asleep (and in her bed) until she called for me at 7 am. Again another great sign.

Now we just need to work on naptime. She needs it and so do I.