Jon & I have been very lucky parents when it comes to the sleeping department. When we brought Ellie home from the hospital, she & I spent about a month & a half on the couch. Yes, the couch. Gasp! Isnt that not recommended by the AAP?!?!?! You're right but oh well! It was important to me that Jon got his rest since he was still having to get up & go to work. Ellie made an easy transition into her bed upstairs & we only did CIO (cry it out) for a few nights. She has been such a great sleeper from the beginning. Then one day...wow! She started saying "cant go night night." That lasted for about a week but then she would still go to sleep fine. Guess she was serious about this cant go night night business because after a week of saying that, she made it come true. For two nights she screamed in her crib for 3+ hours. I am not joking! 3+ hours. Who knows how long it really lasted, because after trying EVERYTHING we know, we shut off the monitor & went to bed. Cruel but wow, she was crazy! We then went to Houston for a weekend & for 3 nights she slept in the bed with us. Gasp again! But there was no way I was going to listen to all of that screaming when we were all 3 sharing a room!
My mom talked to me a lot about this and she mentioned that when David & I were little she would stay on the floor by our beds until we could calm down. Genius! I had been praying and asking for prayer that I would know what to do about this whole "cant go night night" business. Does Ellie need me or is she just being 2 & she needs to work it all out?!?!?!?!? The decision was made - take this opportunity to move her to a big girl bed since she was already having issues. Two birds, one stone. I had been dreading the transition to toddler bed, so why not knock it all out? Thus....
We got back into town and I took Ellie to Target. We went up & down the bedding isle and she decided on Cinderella. :) This is something I swore I'd never do -- no character room. You can tell how desperate I was to play up the idea of sleeping in her toddler bed with no tears/screaming. It worked! She watched her daddy take it all apart & make a big girl bed, she loved sitting on her Cinderella sheets, and that night she fussed for 7 minutes. Yes, 7 minutes!! Thats amazing compared to where we were a few days before! Oh, I forgot to mention that I bought everything Cinderella in Target -- sheets, bedspread, stuffed animal, night light, pj's, sippy cup, play phone! I stopped short at Cinderella wall decals. That was going a little overboard for me ;) Here is Ellie her after her first night in the big girl bed!
Since she's been in her big girl bed, she still will complain about going to bed, but goes without a fight and without crazy screaming. She doesnt try to get out of bed or her room. Today for her nap, she climbed the stairs with me, without complaint! Thank you Lord for your favor & direction! Ah! We've made it past another milestone. TODDLER BED!
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