Toddler Bed

So here is something else that I am just now getting around to blogging about (it happened on January 23rd) . Gary and I woke up to Katy saying "Mommy I'm up high! Mommy I'm up high!" I knew that couldn't be good, so we ran to her room to find her straddling the front of her crib like a horse. She proceeded to swing her leg over and jump down out of the crib like she was dismounting. We were shocked, but had known it was almost time to convert the crib to a toddler bed. I had been dreading this transition for awhile because, being the model strong-willed child, I expected we would have trouble getting her to stay in the bed. Another reason for the dread is because Katy still had her pacifier at the time and one of the reasons she loved nap time and bed time was because they were the only times she got her paci. We decided that the best time to take the paci away was during the full transition to a "big girl" in a "big girl bed".

That morning Gary converted her crib into a toddler bed and we had a long talk with Katy (at least 1 minute, haha). We explained to her that she is a big girl now and since she is getting a big girl bed she will not need a paci to sleep anymore. We got her to understand that the paci had gone bye bye with the baby crib. She seemed excited and didn't act as if this bothered her much, but I was afraid it was too good to be true.

The first trial run was her afternoon nap. She cried most of it but never tried to get out of bed. We were pleased with her first time in the bed. Then, that night she asked for her paci. I thought "here we go, this is going to be a loooong night." And it was. We got up to help soothe her back to sleep about five times between the two of us. Again, she never tried to get out of bed though.

Well, it turned out that the first night was the only night we had to get up like that, and since then, I have maybe had to get up once on a couple of occasions when she just wanted mommy or had fallen on to the floor. The bed is very close to the ground so she wasn't hurt, just confused. I put her back in bed and she went right back to sleep. This has been much easier than I thought. She has been a real trooper with the changes and we are greatly blessed to have such a sweet daughter. Even today she has not gotten out of bed during the night, only at the beginning of bedtime sometimes when trying to go to sleep (and she has just now started doing that). Most of the time she just sings herself to sleep, which gives her daddy and I so much joy to hear.