Big Girl Bed

Matt and I were lucky enough to have a toddler bed available to us when Grace out grew her crib.  

Grace really has not out grown her crib, but about a month ago she discovered that she could swing her leg up and hook her heel over the edge of the crib.  I was not going to wait for her to realize that was the first step to getting out of the crib (the hard way).  I also realized that we would need to make this transition sooner than later due to the arrival of Glen in a few months.  I wanted her to be used to her new bed before the rest of her life got turned upside down.

 So on Sunday after church, lunch and a nap we all three got into Grace's room.  And all together (yes, Grace was "helping.") we took down her crib.  Then in the same time frame we put together her beautiful red toddler bed (yes, she "helped" with that one too).

 She got in, she laid down, she bounced, she climbed over the railings, she explored.  She loved that she had access to all of her stuffed animals and pacifiers that were usually locked up in the crib.  She showed off by climbing in bed, picking out each item one by one and handing them to us.  Then taking each item from us one by one and putting them back into bed...over and over and over!

The first night in the bed she was not too happy.  It took about 45 minutes to 1 hour of singing, rubbing her back and sitting with her to get her to sleep...then she woke up at 4:30 am :(

Nap was a little better, 15 minutes of rubbing her back.

Tonight I was in there for 5 minutes before she was out.  I think that she is getting the hang of this, she did not fight or fuss at all.  In fact she saw me leave but she was already so sleepy that she did not even cry.  I type this hoping that I am not jinxing anything...4:30 does come early, I hope I do not see it again tomorrow morning!

But this is one of many transitions that we are trying to do for Grace before October/November so that she can be used to the changes before her little brother gets here.  In the next blog you will hear all about her big girl room that we just painted this past weekend.