Big Girl Bed, Take 2

Soo, it's been over a week now since the big conversion of Ainsley's crib to a toddler bed and things have gone from good, to medium, to really REALLY annoying and bad.

In short, our sweet little girl who was sleeping for up to 3.5 hours in the afternoon and at least 11 at night has now regressed into a crazy child running around her room and dismantling EVERYTHING for at least an hour before finally passing out on the floor only to wake up an hour later cranky and still tired. At night the story is the same although once she's been quiet for a while we'll move her to her bed and she, thankfully, stays there all night, but has now taken to waking up no later than 5:30 in the morning.

This morning I reached my limit. It was my morning to get up with Ainsley which was fine as, lets be real, I'm in the non-sleep stage of pregnancy anyways (that previous comment about this sweet little bundle in me not waking me up yet with kicks was quickly proved false). So it wasn't entirely the lack of sleep as much as the knowledge of what it was going to do to our day AGAIN. If Ainsley wakes up before 6:30 there is almost no way she can make it through lunch without a morning nap and after a morning nap there is almost no way that she will take another one which makes for

a. a VERY long afternoon for both of us and

b. a really rough evening with an overtired and cranky toddler.

Thankfully Ian stepped in as he always does and made a nice breakfast for the two of them while I searched the internet for books and advice about toddler sleep habits. Up until this point Ian and I have just gone with our guts on everything. We were both raised by great parents and feel like we don't need to follow a specific philosophy to raise our children well, but I was at the end of my rope.

According to parents and experts alike it is not too early to start Ainsley in a toddler bed but it is still on the early side, especially as she's on the small side physically. Our issue was never her climbing out of her crib or other safety matters, just that we wanted to prep her for the new baby coming and taking her crib.

After talking on the phone with my mom for a LONG time this morning (thanks again! I really needed some good mom advice) I felt confident that one way or another things would work out. Little did I know how soon.

After a full morning of errands (post office, gas fill up, trip to Oak Brook for birthday presents where I stumbled upon the semi annual Hanna Andersson sale...whoops! or yay!!!?) and a good lunch Ainsley and I were both plum tuckered out. I explained to her that it was naptime, we were going to read two books, sing a song and then she was going to get in her bed and not get out until after nap time. We read two books, I sang her a song, she got into bed and the minute I closed the door she hopped down, ran after me, and frantically started trying to open the door. For the next hour I shut my eyes and laid on the couch downstairs as I listened to her tear apart her room, run around, and occasionally yell out, just for fun. I went back up, explained the whole nap situation one more time, told her if she didn't stay in her bed I was going to get her port a crib out and she was going to sleep in that, shut the door, and she hopped right out again. I marched downstairs, got the port a crib out of the closet and set it up in her room. While I was setting it up Ainsley started throwing in all of her blankies and animals (including the new hand towel she's discovered she loves). I placed her in the crib, gave her a kiss, said good night, and after one long squawk upon closing the door I haven't heard a peep (it's been 45 minutes).

Thank you Ainsley for letting me know in no uncertain terms that you are in fact not ready for a big girl bed. You are such a big girl in so many ways (today she helped me unload groceries, put a new bag in the trashcan, pick up all the bread slices she "accidentally" dropped on the floor, change her own diaper, and put on her own pajama bottoms) it's nice to be reminded, in a way, that you are still my little baby and sometimes we all need our boundaries.

I'll update in a few months when we try again.