Big Girl Bed!

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!!!

"Nigh, nigh."

Life is (once again) Over as I Know It

There are milestones in a child's life that are real game changers for parents.

Crawling.

Walking.

And, climbing out of the crib.

Oh sweet parenting gods, give me strength.

I woke this morning to a thud that rattled through the monitor. Immediately, I took off knowing exactly what had happened: Ember had climbed out of her crib. When I opened the door to her room, there she was, lying like a plank on the floor. I got down beside her, lifted her to her feet and asked if she was okay. She looked at me, and then pointed to her stuffed kitty in the crib and said, "Kitty!"

Oh, good, you're alright. Good thing, because my blood pressure had already spiked.

I mean, Andrew and I both knew that it wasn't a matter of if Ember was going to climb out of her crib, but when. And I've always been grateful that she is on the tiny side of the scale because this day could have come much, much sooner.

Oh, but that is little comfort right now. What are we going to do!?

Well, we are going to convert the crib to the toddler bed set up. But that introduces a host of other issues ... like keeping her in bed. Hell. even her room! The kid can open doors so....

Sleepless nights are coming my way again, I'm sure of it. Just when my eye had stopped twitching...

Bravo Karma, you got us again.

Any thoughts on how to get a 17 month old excited about her new big girl bed? Duct tape or chicken wire? Just kidding. I think.

At least she's cute.
This is how Ember dresses when left to her own devices: dress, rubber boots, denim jacket and a a ball cap.

Learning to Self Soothe

A few weeks ago, I wrote about how Ember is a pretty pathetic napper. I admitted then my guilt in the issue and still recognize it.

While in Ontario, napping went really well. Whining is always the tell-tale sign that Ember is ready for some shut-eye, and whenever a 'waa' rolled out, upstairs Ember and I went where she nursed to sleep. She often napped alone for an hour and a half at a time; something perfectly unheard of when not in a moving vehicle or snuggled close on a lap.

Now that we're home, we're back to the struggle. I'm working hard to instill some good sleeping habits but Ember is resisting my attempts. In an effort to hold my ground, I have reached the 'let her cry it out' strategy. When Ember was younger, I was strongly against this method since her needs were so basic. Now, however, I feel like if she doesn't develop good sleeping habits, I may snap. We're on a slippery slope. At five months old, something has to change or I fear this may the norm when she's two or worse, ten.

As I type this, Ember is working the crocodile cry in her bed. You know the one - no tears, lots of pitchy wails that are saying, "you don't love meeeee" - or at least that's how I hear it.

Rationally, I know she is fine, she knows she is loved and is in a safe place. She will learn to comfort herself and hopefully grab some shut eye, or at the very least have some quiet time.

Irrationally, I'm torturing her. She will grow up to be insecure and have abandonment issues. (FYI: I tend to live in this head space more than I'd like to admit).

Who's really learning to self soothe here? Hmm, she's still crying. It's been seven minutes. I'm calling Andrew - I need someone to give me strength and soothe my nerves.

Have we met? You're kind of cute.

The person who coined the term, "It's a good thing you're good looking, or..." must have been a woman. Probably a mother whose baby wasn't sleeping.

Now I realize that my sleep complaints aren't really worth complaining about compared to what some mothers go through with their children. But last night, my girl just didn't want to sleep by herself. No matter what I did, as soon as she hit her pack and play (which she sleeps in in our room), her arms would flail and if I wasn't found in that reach, the cry would start which easily leads to her car alarm cry. She had no trouble falling asleep in my arms. A good, deep sleep too; the kind where her head would fall back like a pez dispenser if you let it. But each time she hit that mattress, the arms would swing to find no Mummy and the cry was triggered. After the sixth attempt of gaining freedom, I just gave up and crawled into my bed with her. It just wasn't worth it anymore. We both need sleep too badly to fight it.

I wonder if she has a minor cold, or dare I say it... she may have started teething. There has been drooling and hints of a diaper rash this week. Whatever the reason, that wasn't our Ember last night but she was still pretty darn cute.


Ember sleeping on our bed. She rolled from her back onto her tummy. Her feet were too yummy to pass up.