Becoming a Big Girl

We moved Ava to a bed a few weeks ago. We had been contemplating doing this for a few months now, ever since she managed to climb out of her crib. That set things in motion, and we bought a bed and mattress....and then did nothing. And then Eric has been working nearly every weekend for the last two months, so the project was put on hold. And also, she was still staying in her crib despite her initial interest in breaking free, so I wasn't feeling quite so enthusiastic. 

The other thing is that while Ava sleeps pretty good in her crib, if she is away from it, it's a disaster. She sleeps horribly in our bed and even refuses to hang out in it once she wakes up (take me downstairs right away, woman!), and don't even mention a hotel room. So, my gut feeling was that this transition might be a little bumpy.

Of course, when the bed was first set up, she LOVED it. Loved hanging out in it and laying on it...but would she love sleeping in it?

It's all fun and games until the light goes off...

 

The first week was definitely an adventure. It took a while to settle her down and into the bed for the first few nights. And once she finally fell asleep, she woke up several times during the night. BUT, although she did try to get out of bed at the beginning (there was no fooling this girl when it came to the escape route), I was able to nip it in the bud, and she wasn't running out of the room, which was my main fear. Maybe that will come down the road, but my hope is that since the initial transition was difficult, hopefully she worked most of it out of her system. During one of her first naps, however, she did think it was hysterical to get out of bed over and over again, and she was laughing up a storm. Thank goodness that was temporary.

And now, she is doing great and has settled in, and when it's all said and done, I am relieved after all to have taken care of this now rather than doing this with a small baby. Guess that worked out for the best.

And next is potty training perhaps? Ava is in the midst of doing her own potty training method, in which she insists on sitting on her potty seat for long periods when she feels like she needs to go, and she sometimes has success (more with number two than number one?!). She seems to have pretty good awareness of when she needs to go or has already gone, which I know is a sign of readiness. Yeah, I really need to get on that I suppose! When did my girl get so big all of a sudden?