Project "Big Girl Bed"
With the pending addition to our family, we decided that we'll keep our nursery a nursery and move Kayla into a new room, currently our guest room. Ideally this would be done sometime before the new baby comes. Although, Kayla spent her first 5 months in a bassinette in our room, so it wasn't imperative she actually be in this new bed before the baby came, just ideal. Before Christmas I went to the library and got out a Bernstein Bear "New Baby" book. I didn't preview it at all, but figured it would maybe help Kayla with the idea that we are going to have a new baby. Well, this book does include the bear family having a baby, but it's mostly about how brother bear is outgrowing his old bed and needs a new, bigger bed. He and papa bear go out into the woods to cut down trees to make this bed (meanwhile mama bear HAD THE BABY WHILE THEY ARE GONE.... don't get any ideas, David!!). Well, Kayla absolutely fell in love with this book and we were reading it multiple times a day for weeks. Through our holiday travels, she kept climbing into beds and asking, "Is this my big girl bed?!" She wanted so desperately to sleep in them that David and I decided we really better get a move on this when we got back home.
So our first weekend back in town we bought her a twin mattress and picked out sheets/comforter/etc for her. We talked to her about it for a few days, laid out a few rules, and she was just so excited that we decided to let her try it. And it's gone SO well. Her first night she was a bit scared to be in there by herself. We ended up going back in there several times to give hugs, sing more songs, etc. But after that first night, she's had no issues going down. She's been in there for about a month now and we have had really no issues to speak of (and I was planning on having lots of issues, so this has been unexpectedly nice). There have been a few times (2? 3?) where she has woken up in the middle of the night and is crying. It's taken David all of about 2 minutes to calm her down and for her to be back asleep. I'm not sure if she's just disoriented, or had a bad dream or what. This wasn't something she was doing while in her crib at all. But other than those few exceptions, she's been sleeping great! I totally expected to find her most nights on the floor. She's been SUCH an active sleeper; we always hear her banging up against the side of the crib while she sleeps. But amazingly, she hasn't fallen out once (we just have the mattress on the floor, no box spring or frame yet)! I also thought she might wake up earlier, but this too is not the case. I'm counting my blessings, for sure.
We have also been searching for used furniture to put in her room and found some on craigslist and bought it (it's not the furniture pictured above, I'll have to post pictures once we get her room all set up, and that might take awhile!). She is also SO excited about her new furniture! It's really cute to see. She's excited to go to bed each night in her "big girl bed in my big girl room". For now, I am still having her nap in her crib. She'd like to nap in her big bed, but I'm not ready for that step yet! She is at a stage where about once a week she is dropping her nap and just playing in her crib. I am fine if she doesn't nap, on those days she might be a little more sensitive in the evenings than normal, but overall she is fine (for clarification, I don't think she'd be fine if she skipped it every day). And some days she falls right asleep. Most days she plays with her toys and reads in her room and chats for 30 mins to an hour before she falls asleep. I'm afraid that if we transition her to her big bed that might mean that she'll nap even less, and at this stage in my pregnancy, I'm not ok with that! :) So, we'll see how things go. She is getting really good about being quiet during her nap time, even if she's not sleeping. I'll probably start to tell her that if she continues to be so good and quiet during nap/quiet time that she'll be allowed to do it in her big girl bedroom. I am sure that would be motivating for her!
One of our rules is that she is not allowed to get out her bed. David (typically) puts her to bed and she is to stay in there until she wakes up. When she wakes up she calls, "Momma, I'm awake.... I'm ready!" and stays in bed until I go in her room and then she is allowed to get up! I'm sure that this won't last forever... I don't necessarily want it to last forever. But for now it's a good rule and one I'm very pleased that she is following!
Anyway, I really thought this would be tough on all of us, and it's gone surprisingly easily. I am quite thankful for that blessing.