Success!

With growing up and becoming a "big girl" there are a couple of major transitions that take place in a toddler's life- like becoming potty trained, giving up the binky, and moving from the crib to a toddler bed. All of which I've wanted nothing to do with and wasn't planning on pushing until I was getting a little more sleep at night.

As I mentioned in a previous post, we've had a toddler bed for Madi for quite some time now. However, she's wanted nothing to do with it (aside from using it as a place for her dolls and stuffed animals to sleep). But that hasn't stopped us from talking about it. Just yesterday I was telling Madi about all the "pros" of sleeping in a big girl bed. I mentioned how it'd be great not to have to wait for mom or dad to come get her in the morning, but that she could get out of bed all by herself, get books, and read quietly while waiting for everyone to wake up. This seemed to be the ticket!

Last night Spencer came downstairs after putting Madi to bed and tells me, "She's sleeping in her big girl bed." I guess Madi finally agreed to the switch! Through the monitor she sounded happy about it. I could hear her jabbering away to her baby and animals. The talking continued for about 45 minutes (which isn't completely abnormal), and then it was quiet. Spencer got back from picking up a movie and ice cream and I reported that she'd gone to sleep. A few minutes later I hear Madi talking again. She was being quiet though so we started our movie- never going up to check on her. At about 9:50 (almost 2 hours after being put to bed) we hear singing! Sure enough Madi was singing away to "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." All of a sudden the singing got fainter, I heard a bump, and it was quiet. She'd actually fallen asleep in her toddler bed (let me remind you that she's never even taken a nap in this bed- so this was a major accomplishment)!

After finishing our movie we headed upstairs for bed. I peeked into Madi's room, excited to see her slumbering away in her new bed. Sure enough, she was ON her bed, but definitely not IN it. Her body was slumped over the side, with her upper half resting peacefully on the bed, and her lower half kneeling on the floor beside the bed (wished I could have gotten a picture of it, but Madi is a light sleeper and the flash would surely have woken her up)! I also found about 20 of her favorite books along with half her collection of stuffed animals strewn throughout the bed. I stealthly cleared off her books and animals, lifted her back onto her pillow, and covered her up.

Around 4am, after feeding Elle, I tiptoed into Madi's room to find her sprawled out on her back, on the floor!! This time I left her there after throwing a blanket over her. At 6am I went in again to find her back in bed, sleeping soundly! At 7:20 I could hear happy chatter coming from her room, so I grabbed my camera and went on in.

Good morning Madilyn! I think she's pretty happy about this big girl bed thing. Maybe I shouldn't have pushed the "getting out to read books" thing as much though.

At least she only emptied one shelf from her bookcase! It seemed to look a lot worse last night when I was cleaning it up!

Luckily nap time today was a little faster. Spencer went in 20 minutes into her nap and caught her at the bookshelf. He sternly told her it was time for nap, but that she could take 2 books to bed with her. 40 minutes later I went in to reinforce nap time. After a little pep talk she layed her head down and was asleep within minutes.

I'm sure this will take awhile to train, but luckily we've still got a couple of months before Elle graduates to the crib, joining Madi in her bedroom!