The Transition

When I look back now on my life taking care of a new baby, so much of it seems a blur- and things I didn't think I would forget, I did. It makes me wish I had done a better job at blogging, or recording it in a journal. But I do remember there was a point in Grace's life when she went to bed sweetly, slept through the night, and I was afforded 7-10 hours of actual sleep. Then, at about 7 months she started teething, getting earaches, fevers, and colds, and wound up spending 3 months nearly every night in our bed. That ruined it. From then on habit was formed and she would wake up every night mid-nightish to sleep with us for a year. I have been anxious for months about how I was going to break this habit, considering the "Super Nanny" techniques of letting her cry it out for a week or so, but I just couldn't bring myself to follow through completely. So when she started climbing her crib I decided to let the toddler bed transition be that miracle.


The first night she loved jumping on her bed and playing around, but had a hard time when she realized she had to actually sleep in it. I stayed in bed with her and after an hour she finally zonked, only to hit her eye HARD on the rail and start screaming. I freaked out and got rid of the toddler bed, ready to try the guest bed with a safety rail after all. Fortunately for me, I have friends who blog and are more patient than I, to help convince me to give it another try. So I found another toddler bed and decided to give it 2 weeks. I grabbed a pillow and made myself a bed next to hers on the ground but she insisted on sleeping there with me instead. Then she would kick me off my pillow. Go figure. :-) So I crawled into her bed, she got back in with me, so I went to the floor. Again she followed. Sheesh!!! We wound up sleeping 3 nights on the floor, with me placing her back in the toddler bed middle of the night-ish. But you know what? She stayed asleep! Not even a week had passed and now my little girl is starting to finally sleep in the toddler bed and mom and dad have their own place again!!! Hallelujah! (Now I'll keep my fingers crossed...)

I am SOOOO grateful to my sweet blogger friends for your stories and tips as you raise your little ones. It's amazing to me how the simplest detail you might mention has been so helpful! So keep them coming! :-)