Big Girl Bed, Take 1

Sooo. I know it's crazy early, or so I'm told, but in preparation for the new little one on the way in a few months (eek!) Ian and I have decided to take baby steps towards getting Ainsley into a twin bed.

Let me back up a bit.

I'm not overly concerned about jealousy issues with Ainsley and her soon to be new little sister, mostly because I was raised with the sentiment "life's not always fair, get used to it" and I find in my old age I quite agree. There are some things Ainsley's just going to have to deal with, like the new baby getting lots of snuggles and love (of course she will too), lots of mommy time (breastfeeding for 8+ months tends to lend to that), and getting to play with her old favorite toys, drink from bottles and do other "baby things" that she's just too big for now. I'm foreseeing that there will of course be issues with this, but I think approaching it matter-of-factly and without much fuss we will hopefully glide right through the transition.

The crib is another story. Back when I calculated for the first time how old Ainsley will be when her new sister arrives (20 months) I realized that most babies aren't out of their cribs yet and gosh by golly I'll be darned if we're going to shell out a few hundred dollars for a second crib (especially when there are so many other things I'm finding I "need" for the new little one). We do have a beautiful handmade cradle that will work for the baby for a few months but I am weary of letting Ainsley stay in her crib until the point that the new baby needs it and then WHAM! in one fell swoop trading out her beloved crib for a new bed. I think that may cause more territorial issues than I'm willing to deal with.

So the theory was formulated that if we could get Ainsley into a "big girl bed" before the baby even gets here she won't associate that sweet little bundle of joy with ripping away her one remaining baby comfort (ok, she still has a pacifier, but that's worthy of a whole separate post in and of itself).

After making this decision I found myself a bit traumatized by the thought of just taking away her crib and replacing it with a bed in one rash step. Then the epiphany occurred to me... "Ainsley's crib converts into a toddler bed!" genius. I had assumed that we would never really use this feature as the plan was always to cram our children as close in age as possible to one another, thus necessitating the constant use of the crib in it's original form, but it turns out it (knock on wood) may come in handy after all.

So this morning after Ian headed off to a morning of dealing with rat brains I clambered upstairs, still in pajamas, with Ainsley on one hip and the tool box on the other and turned her crib into a toddler bed.

The process in and of itself was a thrill for her. She grabbed a screwdriver and "helped" to undo the front side and then proceeded to sit on the mattress platform while I attempted to raise it to the appropriate level. She also made sure to taste every screw for me just to, you know, make sure they were good. Once everything was in place she climbed right up and made herself at home in her new bed.

Now comes the real test, naptime.

As Ainsley decided to wake up at 5:45 this morning I made it a point not to allow her to doze this morning to tire her out for her first big girl bed nap. We made black and blueberry scones, went through old clothes Ainsley has grown out of, folded laundry, read books, sang countless fingerplay songs, and blew up her new giraffe splash pool in the backyard.

At approximately 12:15, red faced and yawning (Ainsley, not me, well at least not the red faced part, I think), I brought her upstairs, reminded her that she needed to stay in her big girl bed for sleepytime, did the goodnight moon thing, sang Edelweiss and laid her in her bed. After turning on the monitor so I could hear her every move from downstairs I sat back to listen to the unfolding of the fruits of my labor. Almost immediately I heard her jump out of bed and run to her door trying in vain to open it up. After about 10 minutes of thumping around her room Ian headed up to try his hand. He came back down 5 minutes later and we haven't heard a peep since.

I know we still may have a long haul in front of us. Who knows what will happen tonight for the 11-12 hour stretch? But for now we have success and if there's one thing I've learned as a parent you take every little one you can.

Our little girl is growing up. I am thrilled, proud, and a tidge heartbroken all at the same time. I guess this is why we're having another one, right?