Big Girl Bed

We have been planning for several months that we would move Samantha into a big girl bed this summer so she could get used to it before the new baby comes and takes over the crib. Memaw bought sheets and a comforter for her about 6 weeks ago and we finally got a mattress about two weeks ago. We put it on the floor beside the crib and made it up with the sheets and comforter. She LOVED it! She will go sit on it to read her books and will snuggle down into the pillow. She will also snuggle her Daddy on it before going to sleep in her crib. But I haven't been brave enough to try putting her down for the night on it yet, at least until last night.



I got the bed rail out and found out that it is just about the same length as the crib mattress. Yeah! I was worried that it would be too long. I decided that with a wall on two sides of the mattress, the crib on one side and the bed rail on the last side, we might be able to transition fairly easily. Last night she didn't want to drink her milk and she didn't want stories. She only wanted to lay on her big girl bed. So after we brushed her teeth, I got out the bed rail and I let her lay on the bed with her babies and her mommy bear.



At first she was squirming all over and sitting up, but when I asked her if she wanted to sleep in her baby bed, she said "no!" So I told her that to stay in the big girl bed she had to lay down and go night night. And she actually listened. I left the room a few minutes later and kept peeking in to see how she was doing. At one point she started crying and I went in to see what was wrong. She signed hurt to me. I asked what hurt and she pointed to the wall. I moved her away from the wall on the bed and told her that the wall won't hurt if she is still and goes to sleep. And I left again. Things were pretty quiet after that, so I thought she might actually be going to sleep. HA!


I was washing my hands in the bathroom, when all of a sudden I heard a little voice right behind me. I turned around and said, "Samantha Grace! You are not supposed to get out of your bed. You are supposed to go night night." I turned around to finish rinsing my hands and dried them. Then when I turned back around, she was gone. I went looking for her, expecting to find her playing in the living room, but she had actually gone back to her bed and laid down. I still decided that it was not the right night for sleeping in the big girl bed for the first time, and put her back in her crib. She went to sleep very quickly after that.


I'm not sure if we will try the big girl bed again tonight, or if we will wait and try naps on the big girl bed this weekend first. We'll see. If we do try the big girl bed tonight, I will definitely be putting the gate up in her doorway before I go to sleep!