We knew something was up when we heard her stirring the night before Thanksgiving. I went to her room and found that she had been sick in her crib. It took both Chad and I working together to get everything cleaned up and in the washer with new sheets changed and Chloe into some clean new jammies. We got her settled down and let her come back to our bed with us for a little while, but eventually decided it was time to return her to her crib when she showed no signs of being sick again. I placed her in her crib like always, but she hiked one of her legs over the crib rail, and before I knew it she was up and over the side of the crib and on the ground, like a ninja!
Needless to say, that night marked the end of Chloe's crib dwelling days. Chad was hopeful that maybe it was an isolated incident and she would forget that she'd climbed out of the crib the night before. That was definitely NOT the case at nap time the next day, so we knew it was time to convert the crib to a "big girl bed" with toddler rails. Everything we read said that if you saw your little one get out of bed, go into their room, pick them up, and put them back in bed. Do not talk to them or engage them in any way. Do this as many times as necessary until they fell asleep on their bed. We had to do this about 5 times per night for 2 nights with Chloe, and on the third night she just slept in her new bed with no problems for naps and night time. We are very proud of her and thrilled at how well she transitioned!
A picture of our big girl in her "new" bed:
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| Way to go Chloe! |
Once Chloe was established with her new bed situation, we considered when would be the best time to switch Brady to a "big kid bed" too. He seemed happy and comfortable in his crib for the time being. He usually gets up before Chloe in the morning and also at nap time, so he always came in her room with me to say hello to her when she woke up. He saw that she was sleeping in a "new" bed and would even climb up and play with her on it every day. By Christmas we decided it was time to say goodbye to his crib as well. We figured it would be a good time to do it since Chad would be off for several days and he could help me during the nighttime if Brady had a difficult time adjusting. We were concerned it may be harder to switch him over since he hadn't tried to leave his crib on his own yet, and also because he has always been not as avid a sleeper as Chloe. He still is a great sleeper (and we thank our lucky stars we have two great sleepers!) he is just more prone to have the occasional middle of the night wake up and is always an earlier riser than she is.
Well, we switched over his crib to a bed with toddler rails and held our breath. That night at bed time he saw his new bed, went over to it and crawled right in. He tossed and turned a little, but never left his bed and didn't wake up at all that night once he fell asleep. He has been in a big kid bed ever since with no issues. The switch for Brady was even less difficult than with Chloe! I think it helped seeing his sister in her bed for a few weeks ahead of time. We were relieved and happy to have successfully moved past that hurdle of babyhood!
Mr. Brady in his "big boy" bed:
So proud of my big kids! I cannot believe that soon we will be celebrating their 2nd birthday! Can we just freeze time please???
