From Crib to Toddler Bed

(Taken from family blog)

Addie now sleeps in a toddler bed instead of a crib! I didn't think this milestone would be bittersweet but it was. I also didn't think this would be considered a milestone but it is! Last Sunday (Oct 16th) I had Danny convert her crib into a toddler bed so that sleeping in a crib would no longer be an option for her. Instead she was left with two big girl beds as choices to choose from.

I really believed that this process would be long and exhausting. I never imagined it would only take two nights for her to really accept it or that if you combine both nights it only equaled to five minutes of crying.

I'm documenting her transition week with the following timeline because it might be beneficial for me to come back and reread it when I go through this in the future with her little brother in about two years. We first introduced her to the toddler bed as a birthday gift when she turned two. She didn't like it very much. In fact she didn't want anything to do with it for two weeks (unless it was to jump on it). She only wanted her crib which was why on the 16th we finally took that option away without actually taking the bed out of her room since we need it in there when she is eventually sharing the room with baby brother.

..................................................................................................

Sunday - This was night one and she cried when we laid her down on her newly transformed bed; which is what we fully expected would happen. Danny and I tucked her in, said our prayer with her and then he turned off the light and walked out of her room. I stayed in there and sat on the floor next to her bed to help comfort her. She still cried but it only lasted five minutes before it was silent. I looked at her and was shocked to see that she was already asleep. It helped that she was completely exhausted to begin with because she didn't have a nap that day. I don't think she had the strength to fight sleep that night. I blame pregnancy hormones but I teared up when I left her room because the first night ended up being easier than I thought it would be; it made me realize how grownup she is. It was bittersweet because it was what I wanted for her but my arms also missed being the ones to hold her while she fell asleep. For two years (minus two nights) I was the one who rocked her to sleep. She slept amazingly and even slept in til around 10am that next morning.

Night One

Monday - She woke up pretty proud of herself which was cute. When nap time came around she didn't want to sleep in her room and she whined a little bit this second night when I laid her down for sleep. I went through her bedtime routine as usual (sang a song with shadow puppets on her ceiling, said prayers and then turned off all lights). She only whined a little bit and asked me to sit by her bed again which I did. She drank her bottle and when she finished it she handed the bottle to me as well as her binky. She is so attached to her binky so I was confused as to why she was giving that to me. She looked at me and said "love you, night night mama". She wanted me to leave her room with both her bottle and binky. I kissed her head and then I put her binky back on her pillow but she noticed what I did. She told me to take the binky with me. I tried two more times to hide the binky on her bed but she caught me each time. I think I was trying to leave it behind because I wanted her to sleep through the night again and I thought maybe she wouldn't if she didn't have her binky with her. I was wrong. I walked out of her room and she fell asleep on her own with no problems. She woke up early the next morning but I was so proud of her even if I knew that she really was turning into a little grownup. 

Tuesday - She didn't fuss at all when it came to either nap time and bedtime this third day. She also realized for the first time that she can climb out of bed herself when she woke up from her nap. She thought that was the coolest thing. Once again that night she handed me her binky when she was done with her bottle. She's definitely not a baby anymore. The pictures below are from her nap when she still had her binky close by.

Wednesday - This morning she woke up around 6am because her foot got caught in the safety railing that keeps her from falling out of the bed. She woke up confused and didn't like that very much. By the end of the day she was so ready to go to sleep because she didn't have a nap that day. We spent the whole day in West Jordan visiting friends so she missed nap time because of our day activities but she had no trouble going to sleep that night.

Thursday and Friday - Danny was on fall break so he was able to join us in the bedtime routine which Addie decided to add bedtime stories to it.

Saturday- Up to this point I was so happy with how easy this transition turned out to be. Danny and I were both impressed that the only fussing from this change came on the first two nights. I knew in the back of my mind that this battle was only half won because we still had to transition her to her actual birthday toddler bed. I figured that would be when the real difficulties would arise. I was wrong once again. This night as we were getting her ready for bed she looked at us and told us that she wanted to sleep on her other bed. We weren't sure if we believed her at first. Danny moved all of her bedding to her other bed just to humor her but he didn't actually believe that she would lay on it. He was prepared to have her mind changed as soon as he got done moving everything over but she never did that. We read her stories, sang her song, said her prayers and that was that. She slept all night in her big girl bed.

Night One in Big Girl Bed.

Sunday - We wondered if Saturday night was just a fluke but the same thing happened last night. She told us she wanted to sleep in her big girl bed and she did just that.

{There's a part in her bedtime story where every time we get to the page she has to sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". She has to finish the song before you turn the page and I love it. This was from last night and I decided to record it.}

Addie girl has proven me wrong all week and at this point I'm not sure why I get so surprised each time. She's shown me that she can do hard things and I've learned that she can handle changes better than I give her credit for. My little girl acts, talks and now sleeps like a big girl. In my mind she went from baby to big girl in less than a week. Maybe I'm the one who wasn't ready for these changes to happen.

My Big Girl