Toddler Bed Turmoil

We did great until Wednesday night. Fuss would go to bed, cuddle a little with Mommy, and go to sleep with me right there (in the bed) with her. Wednesday, she woke up at 4 a.m. and WOULD NOT go back to sleep!! I finally climbed in bed (hers) with her and she fell asleep a little after 5. She was awake again at 6 and Daddy brought her to bed with us.

Thursday, she wouldn't go to bed until after midnight. She then proceeded to wake up every 3-4 hours crying. Luckily, I was able to give her the pacifier and she would stop.

Friday, she went to bed on time but was very restless.

Saturday, we had friends visiting so she missed her "normal" bedtime. (Let me add here that she had also nose-dived from my couch to the coffee table around 1 p.m. and had to be taken to urgent care. We were told to check her for signs of concussion every 2 hours. I am NOT waking up a sleeping kid to shine a flashlight in their eyes, for crying out loud!) Fuss finally went to bed around 10 p.m. An hour past her usual bedtime, but not bad. However, I didn't have to worry at all about waking her every 2 hours to check on her...she woke up every 45 minutes until almost 2 a.m.! I passed out at that point from sheer exhaustion after being up cleaning with a Fuss running around since 8 a.m., 2 doctor's visits, and then checking on her for hours straight. Daddy stayed up late to get ready for work, though, so he kept an eye/ear out for her for a few more hours.

That all brings us to tonight. Sunday. Daddy went back to work. Fuss decided she wasn't going to go to sleep tonight. She cried for me to cuddle in her bed. She cried to "go potty." She cried for water and for food. She threw the binky JUST so she could go get it. 9:30 this started. I decided she was going to lay down and I held my hand on her gently but firmly so she couldn't wander anymore. She cried for "Mommy" even though I was sitting beside her. At 9:45, I walked out. I couldn't handle the crying any longer. I shut the door and I left. Fuss chased me and started banging on the door, screaming at the top of her lungs. She lost her voice due to the screaming and the sore throat she's had for the last 4 days. I listened to some music on headphones to calm myself before attempting anything else. She cried for 15 minutes straight, alternately banging on the door and trying to scream. I feel like complete sh*t.

Finally, I give up. I go in and get her. She tries talking to me asking for "Binky" but her voice is so frail and raspy she can barely get it out. Yup. Mom of the year material. I end up rocking her. I got her calm and sat down with her in my lap on her bed. Next, I put her butt on the bed but keep her head close to my chest. Then I put her down on her pillow with my arm still under her head. I slide off the bed to sit on my knees on the floor. I think to myself, "Great. I hope I don't get stuck like this all night." As I slide my arm out, my sleeve gets stuck under her head and pulls her slightly as I move. Her eyes pop open and she grabs me. So, I put my hand on her hip and start patting her butt. She calms down slowly. I can finally move my hand away from her face. Pat, pat, pat, pat. I pull the blanket up over her and finally stop patting but leave my hand in place for a few more minutes. When I am sure she's out, I slowly start to move away from the bed. I have to crawl because my legs are too numb to walk. Across the room to the door I go. Turn the knob. Step out quickly (on my still-wobbly legs) and close the door quietly. SUCCESS!! It took 20 minutes but I got her to sleep!

I'm not really sure if I'm going to survive this whole sleep transition thing if it keeps up like this. I thought the Dora sheets would help her see it's awesome having a "big girl" bed and she'd want to stay there. I was wrong, apparently. She loves being in it in the day time, but won't nap there, and the second we mention bed time, she freaks out. And I wonder why I'm getting gray hair at 29.

Wordless Wednesday

Toddler bed!

Today was the Day

I took Fuss out to Wal-Mart (or Hell-Mart, however you choose to see it) this evening to pick out her new bedding. She is in her toddler bed now, so she gets to make the "big girl" decision of how she wants her room decorated! I put her in the buggy (shopping cart for those non-hillbillies) and wheel her over to the shelf of sheets.

She immediately points to Dora and yells loud enough for the rest of the store to hear, "DORA!!!!"

Then I tell her, "You can pick out your sheets for your bed, for 'Fuss's' bed. Which ones do you want? You can pick one: Fairies, Princess, Dora, or Minnie." I pointed at each one in turn. This is met with a very intense look and a "Hmmm." She studies them carefully. I see her look at Minnie, but her attention doesn't stay there long. She looks at the Disney Fairies. Same story. It's all down to the Disney Princesses or Dora.

She looks at me, pointing, and asks, "Princess?"

My reply? "If you want Princess on your bed, you can get it. It's going on YOUR BED. So, are you sure you want Princess? You pick."

She stands there another few minutes. I can see her thinking this over and looking from one to the other, back and forth. "Dora?" she says.

"If that's what you want, you can have it. You pick one: Dora or Princess."

"DORA!" she yells, not quite so loud this time, as she points to the Dora sheets.

"Are you sure?" I ask her. She responds with a smile and a nod and repeats Dora. "Okay, we'll get Dora!"

Yes, I actually had the above conversation with my not-yet-2-year-old. She had actually picked the Dora set out online before we went to Wal-Mart and HUGGED my laptop going "Awwww, Dora!" the second she saw it. Do I believe she understood everything I said to her? Not quite everything, but it was enough that she knew she could choose for herself. I admit, it was really interesting watching her make the decision when she could see the prints right there in front of her. Online, she could have cared less about the princesses. In real life, it was a completely different matter! Not to mention, as we walked through the rest of the store, she would point to Disney Princesses and go "Princess!" just as often as she would point to Dora. Apparently, this was a really difficult decision! In another couple years we will probably be changing her room to princess stuff from Dora, but for now she's happy (and hugged her sheets on the way out of the store) and that's all that really matters.

**And, in case you were wondering, last night Fuss slept in her toddler bed all night! She didn't wake up at all until almost 9:30 this morning. Of course, the second she woke up today, I heard "Mommy" and the patter of little feet running to the door. Her door was not latched, so she opened it and ran to her kitchen to play. Nap time wasn't quite so easy, though. She got up twice before I finally rocked her to sleep and placed her in the bed.

Goodbye, Baby...Hello, Toddler!

Okay, I know officially that Fuss is already a toddler. She's past 1 and walking. However, she was still in her crib. I figured as long as she wasn't climbing out, I wasn't going to transition her to the toddler bed setting (we have a convertible crib that goes all the way to a full size bed). She was great until recently. A couple weeks ago she started pulling herself up on the railing. Then, she would try to get her foot up over the railing. No big deal. She couldn't even potentially reach.

But in the last 2 weeks, she has gained another tooth AND at least 1" in height. I didn't think anything of it. Until today. This morning Fuss pulled up and put her foot over the railing on her crib! Had I not been standing right there, she would have fallen on her head. Joy. Now it's time to get the side rail out and set up her toddler-stage bed.

Personally, I am NOT ready for this. I am not ready for Fuss to get out of bed on her own in the middle of the night and come get mommy and daddy. I am not ready for her to be up at God-knows-what-hour in the morning running through the house. *I* am not ready. But she is. So, as usual, we follow her lead.


Now, to convince Daddy it needs done today....