toddler bed diaries

When we got back from the beach Ashley and Eden headed to Jackson so I could get the house packed and ready to move. The first night there, Eden woke up scared about monsters and asked to sleep in the bed with Ashley and Whitney. It seems like she did not forget the monsters on the second night.

When Ashley finished the night-time routine and was about to put her in the crib, Eden lost it. She started crying about monsters and asked to sleep in the big bed.

The first thing that Ashley thought of was to tell Eden that although she could not sleep in the big bed she could sleep in the toddler bed (located across the room).

That did the trick. She immediately stopped crying and said "okay." Although great that Eden stopped crying, Ashley also forgot one important thing - the transition from crib to toddler bed had yet to occur.

So, they talked about what it meant to sleep in a "big girl bed" and that Eden could not get out or would have to sleep in the crib. I suppose the talk went okay given Eden's reaction to the bed the next morning {thank you Alli & Jeff for letting us borrow such a cute toddler bed} ...

Ashley kep thinking she may have to move Eden to the crib during the night, but it wasn't needed. So, the entire time Eden was in Jackson, she slept in the toddler bed. All naps and at night - and no getting out. Her CC just kept reminding her that if she got out it was back to the crib, and it worked. Wow!

Well, Ashley came back to Baton Rouge on Friday to a fully packed and nearly moved house. We spent Saturday moving the big stuff and putting Eden's room together ... complete with a converted-from-a-crib big girl bed! Ashley just kept saying that she wasn't sure she {Ashley not Eden} was ready for this change, but it seemed Eden had done the deciding for us.

Eden did fine the first night - loving her new bed (although she woke up in the middle of the night scared of the "new house" and we had to calm her down a few times during the night). The second night was the same.

Then came naptime on Thursday. Eden lost it when Ashley was putting her down for her nap. After helping Eden calm down a number of times, Ashley left the room for good and told herself she wasn't going back. Eventually, Eden fell asleep. After a while, Ashley went in the check and found this ...

Okay. So she had figured out how to get out of her bed. Ashley spent the afternoon with her mind racing and determined that that meant no more closing Eden's door for a while so we can check on her movements (we installed a gate at her door instead) and moving everything that can potentially fall on her, cause electrocution, strangulation, or otherwise be harmful. Easy enough, right?

Ha! Thursday night Eden did not want to get back in her bed. When Ashley asked her where she wanted to sleep, she quickly said the "big bed" (we have a full-size matress in her room to read her books before bed - we used it for guests, too, at the old house). So Ashley negotiated again. She told Eden that she could not sleep in the big bed that night because it didn't have a rail. And that the store with the rails was closed because it was dark outside now. When Eden said, "rail n-o-o-ow" Ashley told her that the next day when the store opened we would get a rail for the bed so she could sleep there.

Of course she remembered that! So, on Friday around 10:30 (in the middle of a terrential downpour I might add), I headed to Cullen's Babyland for a rail. It was installed by naptime.

Ashley has been telling herself to be prepared for changes, and tonight Eden decided she no longer needed to rock before bedtime but instead just wanted Ashley to lie with her on the big bed and cuddle and sing their bedtime songs. Times are changin. Just like most other things, she made the change herself.

For now, the end of the story is that Eden sleeps in a big bed. NOT a big girl bed ... she calls it her BIG BED. And she'll correct you, too.