Where to begin? So much went on this past weekend that it felt like a blur. Let's just get right to it, shall we?
Mommy B had the day off on Friday, and I "worked from home" (the last one for a long time), so we decided it was time to put the toddler rail on Alli's bed - transforming it from a "crib" into a "big-girl bed". While Alli was at school, I took the front off Alli's crib and replaced it with a toddler rail that only runs halfway across the length of the bed and only goes up about 8 inches. This means that she is free to enter and exit the bed at any time she chooses. We figured that since she sleeps on a cot for her naps at school each day, this wouldn't be much of a change for her.
And thank goodness we were right. We walked her down to her room after her bath and she took one look at her crib and said "Bed!" It was like she could tell what we did to it and she knew what she was supposed to do. She climbed on up and snuggled into her Pooh Bear blanket as if she'd done it a thousand times. Mommy B and I left the room, and waited for the tell-tale signs of her exiting her bed and going to play with the toys we left in her room. No such noise. We checked on her about 20 minutes later and found her flopped over on her back with Pooh covering her face... just like always. Whew! That was easy...
Saturday afternoon presented us with our next challenge - nap time. She's usually tired at night, so falling asleep then is much smoother than nap time. But to keep things consistent, we walked her into her room for her afternoon nap and placed her in bed just like we always do, and closed the door behind us. We heard her talking for a little while, but nothing that would cause us to worry that she was getting into trouble. However, Mommy B went back into her room about 30 minutes later to a little bit of a surprise. She came back down and said "You have to come see this." I walked up stairs expecting the worst... There she was, in the middle of the bed, face-down and passed out (like normal) - but she was surrounded by ALL her stuffed animals! I looked at Mommy B and asked "Did you put them all in there?" She looked back and said, "Nope."
This means that Alli had climbed out of bed, went across the room and grabbed all her stuffed animals (probably 2-3 trips worth) and brought them back into bed with her. So not only did she bring them back into bed, but she them climbed back into bed and fell asleep - as if nothing had ever happened! It was one of those moments as a parent where you're not sure if you should laugh uncontrollably or beam with pride... because I think I did both. I laughed at the sight of her sleeping with all her stuffed animals surrounding her, and that she got out of bed just to go get them. But then I felt overwhelmed with pride that my little girl climbed back into bed and fell asleep without any one's help. She was just doing her own thing, as they say these days.
Saturday night came and went without any issue, as she fell asleep without even getting out of bed. Sunday afternoon and evening was more of the same - uneventful. This was such a relief to Mommy B and I, as we've heard horror stories of parents trying the toddler rail for the first time and it not going so well. We both understand that it's early still and there is plenty of time for her to get out and get into trouble - but we're off to a great start and are proud of our "big girl" and how independent she has become.
To celebrate Alli's accomplishments, on Sunday Mommy B changed her earrings (that she's had in since she was 5 months old) for some new ones that Grandma C sent down. She also painted Alli's toes for the first time ever! Of course, being the rough and tumble kid of mine that she is, she scraped some of it off when we went to the pool later that morning. Go figure. Alli has always adapted very well to everything we've thrown at her. Whether it's a new bedroom with a new crib, new schedule, new sibling, you name it - she's taken it in stride.
Thank goodness too, because we also started letting Aiden "cry it out" this weekend...
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