Pre-Big Girl Bed

So, we have really been considering moving Jesstine to the room across the hall because it is SO hot in her room! We didn't want to move the bed though because we would have to take it apart AND take the one in the other room apart. So, we decided to transition her slowly. We turned her crib into a toddler bed thanks to my sisters! My younger sister and I picked out the same crib (without knowing it) when we were both expecting our first babies. She bought the toddler conversion rail and I bought the rails to turn it into a full size bed. So, she loaned me the toddler rail since she wasn't using it. My older sister had a Dora obsessed daughter who is older than Jesstine, so she graciously (no pun intended) gave us the Dora bedding from when my niece was in a toddler bed. Jesstine was SUPER excited! The first night we put her into the toddler bed, she didn't want to wear a diaper to bed because she wanted to be a "big girl." We decided that wasn't a good idea! We still put a diaper on her (she has only been dry one time in her whole life upon waking up in the morning). Also I think it is best if we just stick to one major change at a time! Here are some pictures and at the end I will tell you the results of the first night in the toddler bed!

Already found her place to be comfy.

Now it is all set up with all of her stuffed animals and blankets. No sleeping environment is complete without Mickey, Minnie, green "bankie," and of course her best pal, Dumpty!

How did it go? Well, she normally is in bed by 8:00. She us USUALLY asleep by about 8:3o. Every once in a while she gets a wild hair and decides to talk until 9:15. So we kept to her schedule pretty well. By about 8:50, she had been out of bed more times than I can remember. She shut the door on two occasions and I found her with books in her bed on two occasions. After spanking her and she STILL got out of bed, I decided to try a method that I had tried before. I put her back in bed and then parked myself on the floor facing the door (with my back to her). At first it didn't go so great. She purposely threw Dumpty out. So, I put her back in bed each time without talking. After the 4th time of this, I didn't give Dumpty back. I put Dumpty in another place, then placed Jesstine back in bed. She of course cried. After a few min. (and an attempt by Jesstine to go and get Dumpty, I gave Dumpty back. I positioned myself a little further away. She got out of bed once (after about 5 min.). Put her back and sat on the floor. It worked! She stayed in bed. For a while she talked and tried to get my attention. At one point I was chuckling inside because she started counting. It was like the old "counting sheep" method. She surprised me with how high she could count! She would sometimes leave out three and once she got to eight, she was lost so she would just repeat numbers before eventually starting over. Every 5-10 min. I would move slightly closer to the door. By 9:30, I didn't hear a sound. I left her room at 9:35. She slept all night long and woke up just before 7. She got up, shut her door and read books! It was kind of nice to not have to go get her right away!!! She entertained herself! We will just see how naptime in the big girl bed goes!!

In Him,

Lacie

*****Naptime UPDATE****

Successful in that she did go to sleep at about 2 (30 min later than usual). Fail in that her Mommy lost her cool and her Daddy tried his own method in the middle of Mommy's method. Overall, not a good start to the "Big Girl Bed" experience today. Here's to hoping tonight is better!!