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Big girl!!
Posted on February 23rd, 2009 1 commentMany parents worry about when and how their toddlers will transition from a crib to a bed. I was one of those parents until just a few days ago.
We spent two weeks transforming our third bedroom from a spare room to a “big girl” room for our daughter, Samantha. She will be 21 months old soon, and we are expecting our second child in August. After we decided that Sam would be switching bedrooms, I wanted that to happen asap. There will be many changes in her life before and especially after the new baby is born, and I want those changes to be as spread out as possible so she doesn’t freak out or feel like this new person is taking her place.
In her new room, we painted the walls green, repainted the doors and a family toddler bed purple, painted the floor brown, purchased some cute bedding and accessories, and finally moved her in over the weekend.
We got all of her toys and furniture set up, and also moved her crib. We felt that two big changes at once (new room and new bed) might be too much at once for Sam. I wanted her to be able to get used to her new room while still sleeping in her familiar crib. However, she had a different idea. We moved her into the room in the morning, and she decided to take her nap in her toddler bed! She has slept there just fine with no problems…until this evening.
Me reading Samantha a bedtime story on her first night in her big girl room!
About 30 minutes after I put Samantha to bed, I heard her talking to herself for a few seconds. Then about 15 minutes after that, I heard the pitter-patter of tiny footsteps. I went up to her room to see what was going on. She had been up out of bed, peeling the butterfly and flower wall stickers off the wall and putting them up on the wall by her bed. While it was incredibly cute and funny, I had to tell her to lay down and go to sleep. As soon as I closed the door, she got right out of bed and continued rearranging the stickers. I went right back in, and this time removed the stickers that were near her bed and put them up out of her reach. I said, “Ok, time to stay in bed and go to sleep now.” She said, “K, na-night.” After about 10 minutes, I heard her moving around yet again. This time, as soon as I opened the door, she looked at me from her bed and said, “Na-night!” I noticed she had gotten up and put her giant Elmo doll in bed with her. After that she stayed in bed and went to sleep.I guess I should have expected something like this. Thing is, Samantha has always been a champion sleeper. She has been sleeping through the night since she was three months old and we have almost never had a problem putting her down for a nap or to bed. We do our routine, and she just lays down and goes to sleep. Needless to say I was surprised to hear her out of bed, let along causing mischief! I’m hoping this is just a one-time or a once-in-a-while thing!
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Blog, Parenting, Toddler "Toddler Bed", "transitioning a toddler from a crib to a bed", Bed, Bedtime, Crib, Parenting, ToddlerOne response to “Big girl!!”
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I think it’s so cute that Samantha had to do a little re-arranging in her room before she went to sleep! I hope she settles back into her awesome sleeping routine, but I’ll enjoy the stories of her mischief if she doesn’t
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