Big Girl Bed!
pamelamyers | February 17, 2012
Last night Sam spent her first night in her big girl bed instead of a crib. Granted, it is still her crib, we have just done the toddler bed conversion, but she definitely has the freedom now to get in and out at will, which is a big change for her. Her sleep habits have been so horrible lately, and coupled with her attempted escape that could have resulted in a fall, we knew it was time to change.
It has been really hard lately with Sam waking us up every couple of hours at night. That, along with her refusal to even go to sleep in the first place, has been exhausting for Mark and me. It got so bad that my mom offered to keep her overnight Wednesday night even though that meant I wouldn’t see her from drop off on Wednesday morning before work until after work on Thursday. I have never spent 2 days away from my girl in her life! But…we needed it. I was at the point of actual tears I was getting so frustrated. Of course, she slept like a champ for my mom, didn’t fight at all going to bed and then slept until around 7:00 in the morning! So, I had my confirmation that she was playing games with us and that is all I needed to decide we had to be tough with her and make her go to sleep.
Our plan was to convert her crib over the weekend. My mom spent a lot of time with her on Wednesday and Thursday watching YouTube videos about “big girl beds” which I do think helped because my mom said she was very interested in them. Mark got ambitious and offered to do the conversion Thursday night so I kept her downstairs while he got everything ready. When he was done, he yelled down to her, “Sam, do you want to see your big girl bed?” and boy did she fly up the stairs. When she saw it she was so excited! She kept smiling and saying, “Climb in and out!” over and over while climbing in and out over and over again. It did take us a long time to get her to go to sleep, over an hour. But once she went down, she slept until 6:30 a.m.! That was the best night I have had with her in months. Today she wouldn’t nap, but she did exactly what I have been telling her she can do in her big girl bed — she got up and played quietly in her room for an hour, no crying, no yelling, just being a very good girl.
Today I bought her a reward present — she picked it out herself. Of all the things she could have picked, she chose not a toy, but jewelry. Sam is now the proud owner of a sterling silver, crystal encrusted frog necklace. She wore it proudly all day. Sam, we are so proud of our big girl! We love you!