Big Girl Bed

After Virginia slept so agreeably on the floor in the Durham hotel I began to think she may just not like her crib.

Since we've been back she has been sleeping in the twin bed I grew up sleeping in. I put a rail on the side so she can't fall off in her sleep and I pushed my trunk up to the foot of the bed so she can climb up and down herself. Here is how this has worked out so far:

Virginia will climb into bed herself at the end of our bedtime routine. So, if she doesn't fall asleep nursing, she is, at least, willing to go to bed, which is very different from with the crib.

I'll lay down with her for a few minutes until she drifts off. This part was taking not a short amount of time until I rearranged her room and added an ipod stand. Now I play sleepy baby music while she is going to sleep and she relaxes and stays asleep much faster.

Not only has going to bed gotten easier, she actually STAYS ASLEEP! When we first moved to the bed she did still wake up during the middle of the night, but she has stopped doing this and we have had a couple weeks of full nights of sleep.

When she does wake up (at night or in the morning - which, let's face it, is still usually a little earlier than I would get up) she tends to cry for me to come get her, but just this morning she padded into our room without any fuss at 7:30am. I know some parents lock their kids in their room so they can't leave on their own, but I was quite pleased she figured this out. If she cries I'm going to put her in my bed anyway, she might as well save me the trip by coming to me! I think it helps that she has been sleeping better, too, so it's not like she is climbing in bed with me at midnight every night and not really sleeping in her bed. We'll see how things progress, since children never stay the same, but so far I'm very happy with the big girl bed and with Virginia being able to come to me when she needs me!