So, Lily is a big toddler, and in all honesty, she has been for quite a long time. I was very hesitant in moving her from her crib to her toddler bed. I didn’t like the idea that she could just get out of bed and get into something that she shouldn’t while we were sleeping. I also worried that she wouldn’t stay in bed to go to sleep. But, as she got bigger, I realized it was only a matter of time before we are woken up in the middle of the night by a loud thump of her climbing over the side of the crib and landing on the floor. So, with that in mind, I took the front off her crib and turned it into a daybed. Lily was thrilled!
She spent the morning climbing in and out of bed. She covered herself up and pretended to sleep, grabbed stuffed animals and tucked them into bed. She even laid in bed under the covers while I sat beside the bed and read her stories. She was in love with this new bed! And, her butterfly pillow. I purchased a butterfly pillow before we changed her bed to give her something to look forward to when the change came. I wasn’t entirely sure how she would feel about the change, the big girl bed also meant some of her baby things had to go. For instance, she no longer gets bottles, ever, she used to get bottles at bed time every night, but being a big girl means time to say ‘bye-bye to the bottles.’ She also had to give up her Ocean Wonders aquarium for in the crib. I could have left it there, but the batteries die so quickly and she couldn’t sleep without it. So, I decided to take this chance to trade the aquarium for her frog Slumber Buddy. Took a little convincing, but once the aquarium was out of her room she stopped looking for it.
Nap time the first day was fabulous! This made me very hopeful for bedtime. I had been worried that she would just keep getting out of bed, as I said earlier, but also that she might just roll out of bed. Well, at bed time, she went down pretty well, but she didn’t manage to stay in bed, she fell out of bed at least once a night for the first week and a half or so. Then, I found some small pillows I had made years ago and put them under her fitted sheet to give her an obstacle to hopefully keep her in bed. For the most part she doesn’t fall out of bed anymore, but once in a while she still ends up on the floor somehow.
I love the new toddler bed, though! At nap time now, she has a harder time staying in bed, but after a couple times being told to go to bed she stays and falls asleep. We have to leave her door open now, which we never did before. So now, if she wakes up before she is ready she stays in bed a cries, but if she is ready to be awake, she climbs out of bed, goes out the door, walks down the hall, opens our door, says, ‘Hi, Mommy’ and then climbs up into bed with us. So we get a little cuddle time in the mornings, she comes up gives us some hugs and kisses and chats with us for a bit. So, now I no longer have to jump out of bed as soon as she wakes up and be up for the day, now I can take a few minutes and cuddle with my favourite little turkey and get up when I’m ready! It’s such a wonderful way to wake up in the morning!
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