Friday, May 05, 2006

One Little Monkey Jumping on the Bed

Athena is sleeping in her big girl bed tonight. I am beside myself with excitement. We had no solid plan for how to move her into her new bedroom with her new big HUGE bed, but we've been asking her from time to time if she wants to sleep in her big girl bed that night. She always said, "No." But tonight, she said "Yeah!"

We moved her CD player (with its lullaby CD -- a birthday gift from Aunt Lisa) and her favorite blanket into the room. At first, she jumped under the covers, put her head on her pillow, and started twirling her hair (her own sign language for, "Damn, I'm sleepy!" But when Chris first closed the door on her, she started wailing.

He went back in and tried to reassure her, but exit number two brought on the same tears. Upon exit number three, Chris made it to our bedroom door, but soon our little "big girl" was opening the door to come out. I went in and laid down on the bed with her, very aware that I COULD not offer to sleep with her that first night or else I would never get to sleep in my own bed again.

When she wouldn't settle down, I asked her if she would rather be in her crib. "NO! NO CRIB!" was the adamant reply. But then she ran out of the room. I caught her after cornering her in OUR room and carried her to her crib. I figured she would just collapse from exhaustion and from comfort in being back in "her own bed" (soon to be Marcus' own bed). Instead, she screamed like a Banshee. She did NOT want to be in her crib... apparently EVER again.

We returned to her new room and I explained that if she wanted to sleep in her bed, she had to stay in her room. I told her that if she came out of the room again before morning, she would have to go back into the crib. And guess what! It worked! She's been in bed for an hour and a half now. Granted, the night's not over, but I am shamelessly optimistic.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Even if she does not make it through the night in her big girl bed, it's still a victory. "Wanting" to sleep in her new room is already a great leap forward! Good luck :)

Staci said...

Im taking notes! We're on our way to the big girl bed soon. BTW, any luck on potty training yet? I love that you are a few weeks ahead of me!!

eaf said...

No luck on potty training. In fact, we had a setback tonight. After her daddy asked her if she had to go potty (she said, "No"), she pooped in the tub.

As nasty as that was, it was actually probably a good thing, as we were able to talk to Athena about what SHOULD have happened, and she saw proof of what happens if she avoids the potty.

Incidentally, it's 2:30 and she hasn't made a peep... even though her brother was crying a few moments ago. Hooray!

eaf said...

6am and all is well! YAY!

A Girl From Texas said...

She'll be driving in no time.... he he...

Chris said...

She did great last night. I heard her in the morning and opened the door and told her "You can come out on your own now". She got out of bed and joined us in our bedroom.

She's napping in her bed now. It's a great, wonderful thing. Of course, when she decides she needs to see us in the middle of the night, it will be horrible. For now, it's great.

Anonymous said...

Yay! That's exciting. Go Athena!

BTW, Baby Bruce already has a "Big-Boy" bed. Our neighbors, Jim and Carolyn and Zach, moved to England. We got their gas grill, a lot of baby/toddler clothes and Zach's race car bed (complete with mattress and comforter). It's big, blue and plastic. I think it's kind of ugly, but Kevin said he always wanted one when he was a kid. How can you argue with that?

Lily Ann said...

You're lucky your girl is independent & brave enough to sleep on her own. My girl, going 4 this year and incidently named Athena(a girl from Texas sent me your blog)simply refuses to sleep in her own room.