After Ember dismounted from her bed Sunday night less than gracefully, Andrew and I planned to convert her crib to the toddler bed configuration. We planned that as soon as Andrew walked through the door, we would grab Ember and throw and "big girl bed" party!!!
During the day, I pulled the necessary piece out of the closet and showed Ember how it would attach to the crib and talked a lot about her new bed. Very quickly, she got excited and would pull me into her room to show me the rail and ask me hold it up against her crib. Once Andrew got home, he grabbed the appropriate tools and the three of us rallied in Ember's room. The girl was bouncing with enthusiasm!
Ember was over the moon with the new set up, but we knew the real challenge was yet to come: bed time. Dun dun dunnnnn.
We kept the bedtime routine exactly the same: Andrew diapered and jammied Ember, read a story, we all hunted for the mice in Goodnight Moon and then lights went out and I nursed Ember to slumber. While nursing and rocking in her chair, I surveyed the new arrangement and got scared and weepy. How did we come to this so fast? And, it finally occurred to me that she was going to roll out of bed. Ember definitely squirms in her sleep and those crib rails kept her in place. Without them, she was going overboard.
But there was no going back.
A tumble out of bed was a much better alternative than Ember falling the several feet from the crib rails. Once asleep, I put Ember in her bed, kissed her forehead, and put pillows down around the landing zone. I lingered just long enough to watch her snuggle into her Kitty and then tiptoed out. Being that I'm such a sap, I made Andrew go in with me, and we peered at our big girl together, sound asleep. I managed to keep from sobbing uncontrollably and to not take a picture for fear of a flash waking her up.
The night went remarkably well. She cried once at 11:30 - I went in to find Ember lying on the pillows on the floor, asleep. Clearly, it couldn't have been all that been traumatic. We checked on her twice more over the course of the night and both times found Ember on the floor, sound asleep. Without issue, we moved her back to bed.
The hardest adjustment will be the mornings. Ember usually stirs around 6am but lulls herself back to sleep within the confines of her crib. She may not do that anymore. Instead, she may get up and play, prompting the start of my day. But really, I'm not complaining.
Scenes from a Big Girl Bed Party!!!
During the day, I pulled the necessary piece out of the closet and showed Ember how it would attach to the crib and talked a lot about her new bed. Very quickly, she got excited and would pull me into her room to show me the rail and ask me hold it up against her crib. Once Andrew got home, he grabbed the appropriate tools and the three of us rallied in Ember's room. The girl was bouncing with enthusiasm!
Ember was over the moon with the new set up, but we knew the real challenge was yet to come: bed time. Dun dun dunnnnn.
We kept the bedtime routine exactly the same: Andrew diapered and jammied Ember, read a story, we all hunted for the mice in Goodnight Moon and then lights went out and I nursed Ember to slumber. While nursing and rocking in her chair, I surveyed the new arrangement and got scared and weepy. How did we come to this so fast? And, it finally occurred to me that she was going to roll out of bed. Ember definitely squirms in her sleep and those crib rails kept her in place. Without them, she was going overboard.
But there was no going back.
A tumble out of bed was a much better alternative than Ember falling the several feet from the crib rails. Once asleep, I put Ember in her bed, kissed her forehead, and put pillows down around the landing zone. I lingered just long enough to watch her snuggle into her Kitty and then tiptoed out. Being that I'm such a sap, I made Andrew go in with me, and we peered at our big girl together, sound asleep. I managed to keep from sobbing uncontrollably and to not take a picture for fear of a flash waking her up.
The night went remarkably well. She cried once at 11:30 - I went in to find Ember lying on the pillows on the floor, asleep. Clearly, it couldn't have been all that been traumatic. We checked on her twice more over the course of the night and both times found Ember on the floor, sound asleep. Without issue, we moved her back to bed.
The hardest adjustment will be the mornings. Ember usually stirs around 6am but lulls herself back to sleep within the confines of her crib. She may not do that anymore. Instead, she may get up and play, prompting the start of my day. But really, I'm not complaining.
Scenes from a Big Girl Bed Party!!!
"Nigh, nigh."
