A Big Girl and Her Bed

Chris and I have been meaning to move Averie to her toddler bed since the move.  The new baby won't be using her crib (we'll be getting a smaller one), but she's been tall enough to climb out of it for awhile now and it's a safety issue.

We got the room emptied of all miscellaneous clutter that might entice a big-girl-bed escapee and Friday, removed the crib rail right before bedtime, with the idea that similar surroundings would remind her that she's been in the same place as always and she should just go right to sleep as always :-).

Chris followed her normal routine -- brushed her teeth, read her night-night book, cuddled for a few minutes -- and put her down.  To say we were surprised when there was NO fight is an understatement.  We spied on her with the video monitor (best purchase EVER) and saw her looking around the room, noticing the lack of crib rail but she rolled over and went right to sleep.  *cue angels singing*

Of course we didn't think we were out of the woods yet.  We were prepared for multiple night wakings, but they never came.  She slept her usual 11 hours without a peep.  Hallelujah! 

Naptime on Saturday was another story.  There's not much of a routine to speak of for naptime -- since she learned to put herself to sleep many, many moons ago, we just lay her down and leave the room.  When we tried doing that this time, hysterics ensued.  Crying, screaming, gasping for breath, critical mass tantrum.  We put a gate in the doorway to keep her in, Chris tried holding the door, we put her back in bed multiple times.  After 45 minutes, we gave up.  

You can imagine we were more than a wee bit frustrated when Averie tried to doze off in the car later that afternoon.  It was a "See! We knew you were tired! Why didn't you sleep earlier?!" moment.  Hey -- I didn't say it was a proud moment :P.  

We resolved to maintain a stiff upper lip next time.  Saturday bedtime was another drama-free event.  Slept another 11 hours, no complaints.  

And here we are at Sunday naptime.  The gate plan had failed miserably so that was out.  We decided to turn her doorknob around so we could lock it from the outside.  I felt bad about locking her in, but I figured we had done the same thing the day before by holding the door; this was just a mechanical lock doing the job for us now.  

After 30 minutes, and a lot of crying (thankfully it didn't last the whole time or her softie parents would have given in!), Averie fell asleep.  In front of the door.  

I'm sure she'll stay in the bed once she realizes it's more comfortable, but for now?  It's progress.