Toddler bed

It had to happen sometime. Charlotte, my little spider-girl, finally climbed out of her crib.

It started 2 weekends ago when i took her to Knoxville and had her sleep in the PnP and she climbed right out. It took 90 minutes to get her to sleep the first night because she made it a game. If she sat up and i did nothing, she would climb out. If she sat up and i said, "Lie down" or whatever, or if i put my hand on her to guide her back to a lying down position, she would giggle and flop down, and a few seconds later she'd sit back up again. In a hotel, i didn't really have much choice. i just put her back down 40,000 times until she finally fell asleep. The second night wasn't as bad; she fell asleep after 30 minutes, but it was still a game.

Then last Thursday, the nanny put her in the crib so she could go to the restroom, and Char climbed right out. Uh-oh, danger Will Robinson! So we put the toddler bed together on Saturday and tried to get her used to the idea, but had no luck getting her to nap on it during the weekend or so far this week. i was still using the crib at night, until last night.

Last night she wanted an owl spreader (like a dull knife; butter spreader type thing with an owl on the handle) that somehow made its way into her room. That's not such a safe thing to have in a crib, even if it is blunt, so i didn't let her have it. Commence tantrum. This child doesn't forget things! So... when i put her to bed, she climbed out and came downstairs. Nice. (Or not). Three times she got out of bed, and i tried rocking her, i tried sitting nearby and essentially repeating the pack and play shenanigans, and when it was obviously becoming a game, i put her in her crib, sternly told her to stay there, and went downstairs. (Part of the reason is by then it was 8:45 and i hadn't eaten since an early lunch at 11 so i was starving). As far as i know, she didn't get out of bed, though when Alan went to her this morning, she was sitting up in her rocking chair.

So, obviously tonight had to be the night to start the toddler bed transition. We started by buying a video monitor (which unfortunately keeps losing signal -- bah!!!), and some babyproofing supplies to help keep the door shut (which unfortunately don't work on our doors -- bah!!! - but luckily her door actually won't open from the inside even if locked from the inside, so i did this until she was asleep and used the skeleton key once she was out, just in case of fire or something). i put her to bed a few minutes early, after making sure she was nice and tired today but had a calm evening.

She, of course, followed me to the door, crying. So i told her i would sing to her as long as she stayed lying down and didn't get out of bed or sit up. She, of course, sat up pretty quickly, so i said, "Oh, i guess you don't want me to sing. Good night." and left, and of course she cried, but i didn't let her cry more than a couple of minutes, came back and repeated the "deal" about singing to her as long as she lies down. She did better, but after about 5 minutes she sat up. i warned her once, then left. She cried but didn't get out of bed this time, and again i went to her in about 2 minutes. She let me sing to her for at least 20 minutes this time, never sitting up. After a while i told her that i was going to sing the song 2 more times (one time is all 4 verses of "You Are My Sunshine" plus a couple of humming verses so it's not short) and then 1 more time, and then i went downstairs. She only protested with a little grunt, never got out of bed, and went to sleep.

Thank goodness!!!!! Let's hope every day goes a little bit better and she can put herself to sleep 100% again in a week.