Musical Beds

An hour ago when I was thinking about writing this post, I envisioned the title being "It Happened By Accident" because we had no intention of Bradyn moving into her big girl bed 4 nights ago. But right now, as I write this, she's sleeping in her crib again. Let me explain...

On Wednesday night, Kevin put Bradyn to bed, in her crib, as usual. She was pretty restless that night and kept calling to us. I (like the sucker I am), went in when I heard her crying louder and saying my name. When she whispered 'poo poo' to me, I had no choice but to believe it was true, rather than a stall tactic, and off we went to the bathroom. While sitting on the toilet, she said "I don't want to go to bed". I explained that it was bedtime, and she had to. "I want to go in your bed." "No sweetie, you have to sleep in your own room." "I want the big bed." "You have your own big bed if you want to sleep in it." "I do?" "Yes" "Where is it?" "It's in your room" "It is?" Off the potty she got, and bee-lined it for her room. I pointed at the twin bed and said "That's your big girl bed". She got her little stool, put it beside the bed, crawled up on it and layed down. I convinced her she'd have to sleep under the covers and that was it - Bob's your Uncle. 15 minutes later she was fast asleep. That's when the panic set in. What just happened here? Kevin and I couldn't believe our little baby was in a big girl bed. We weren't ready for this! We didn't have a side rail. We didn't build it up into a fun thing for her to do. I actually had a deja vu about when Bradyn decided to stop breast feeding. It wasn't planned - it just happened. We put some chairs along the bed so she wouldn't fall out, and waited to see what happened. Nothing. No crying out, no wandering toddler in the middle of the night. I went in the next morning and woke her up at 6:30 as usual. The difference though, was that this time I got to crawl in with her. What a treat!

After 3 nights of sleeping in the big girl bed I figured it was a done deal, so, on Saturday morning I hauled out the bedding I had bought for her a few months ago. I hadn't put it on the bed, because I didn't want to entice her out of her crib, and I thought we were going to make a big deal of making the bed - when we were all ready for the move. Not only is the bedding very sweet, but it looks great in her room and goes well with her artwork. (Check out 2 of her framed masterpieces above the bed. Best Christmas gift Kevin ever gave me - 5 framed fingerpaintings made by Brady at daycare.)

All morning she kept running in and out of her room, climbing up to lay on her big girl bed. She was so excited about her 'new' bed. (By the way, I did go buy a bed rail on Friday, and she used it Friday night, but I couldn't bring myself to put it back on after we put the new bedding on - it would have messed up the pretty bedding!) She was at Grandma & Grandpa's for the afternoon, so she didn't get to nap in her new bed, but we put her in it when she got home Saturday night and she loved it. (And no, she didn't fall out.) Tonight Kevin read her stories and then when I went in to say good night, she started crawling out of the bed. After telling her we'd put her back in the crib if she didn't stay in bed, she said that's what she wanted. We got her blanket, she layed down, and we haven't heard a peep from her since. Has the novelty worn off already? Was she feeling insecure? (Was she terrified after watching Spiderman get taken over by the symbiote and needed the comfort of her old bed?)

I guess we'll wait and see what happens but I can tell you this.... my precious little baby is gone but, in her place, is a very sweet, wonderful little girl.