Once we finished making the crib adjustments and putting on her sheets, Lilli jumped into her "new big girl bed" and refused to leave for almost the entire day.
Our plan was to start the move on Friday morning. This way the first time in her new bed was a nap time and if it all fell to pieces we at least had a second chance that didn't involve losing eight hours of sleep. She spent all day in her bed, playing and exploring. I thought it would be cake since she was so excited for her new bed. Well, nap time started off well, she went down quietly and I left the room. I watched her on the video monitor for a minute then decided to take the dog out for his afternoon walk. When I came back in I heard her door knob jiggling and of course she had made a run for it. Two and a half hours later, her nap time had passed and I had failed. We were not giving up that easily.
That night, she was so exhausted from skipping her nap she went right to sleep without a single problem. WOO! We had the rest of the weekend to work on naps, this was going to work out. I would not lose her nap completely, my job depends on it. So the days passed and naps were getting harder. They became a stressful issue instead of becoming more comfortable as the days passed. Both weekend naps resulted in being moved to the pack n' play. The first after two hours of trying and the second after only an hour. We didn't want it to become something she associated with stress, so if she got too upset and wouldn't stay in bed, we moved her to the pack n' play. She'd fall asleep with in 20 minutes and wake up like nothing happened. I couldn't lose that nap, it's my most productive time of the day for working and it simply was not an option. So, like with anything else that requires more than explanation, I made a plan that involved bribery.
Monday morning, we got up early, got dressed and headed out the door before our normal time. We ran some errands and went to the store to buy poster board and stickers. She walked around every store we visited and I made sure she got out as much energy as possible. We got home and went to work on a sleeping chart. Much like her potty chart (that's another blog for another time), she put a lot of hard work into it and was very proud when we hung it up on her wall in her room. For every successful nap, she got to pick a sticker and a piece of candy (just like potty successes). We talked about her sticker chart and what it was used for all day long. Right before nap time, I took her outside across the street to our complex's playground. It felt like 120 degrees outside but she didn't care. She ran and played her heart out. I told her to "get your wiggles out!" To which she'd respond by shaking her body as hard as she could then running around. We went in for juice and a snack, then stories. It only took reminding her about the sticker chart and enticing her with some juice.
She nearly fell asleep mid story, so I put her in her bed and reminded her once more. "If you stay in your new big girl bed for your whole rest (we can't use the word nap), then you get a NEW (emphasis on the word new) sticker to put on your super cool sleeping chart!" I reminded her that when she woke up Daddy would come get her like every other day. She was out in just a few minutes. Cheers were heard around my building.
We haven't had a problem since. I've started a routine that is exhausting and extremely hot, but it works. Every day we visit the park, she gets tired and tells me when she's ready for juice and stories. She hardly ever gives me any issues and almost never leaves her bed without one of us present. I'm not sure what we'll do on rainy days, but so far I've been lucky.
It tears my heart out to see her grow so quickly. I took so many pictures of this process it was hard to choose which ones to share. I'm so proud of her and yet I wish she could have stayed in that crib forever. Each time we take on a new challenge there's a new set of rules. She becomes more aware and able to express herself and we are forced to become more creative. I always hesitate to write about these big challenges, hoping it wont jinx our accomplishments. I consider this one a triumph. Go team family.
"Song of the Entry"
