As we begin to prepare for our second little Davis one of the big adjustments we knew we would face is moving Elle out of the crib. I think we are probably the only family who's two and a half year old is still in their crib but really up until now we have had no reason to move her. She is the perfect sleeper, she's never tried to climb out and she was trapped, you knew where she'd be when you came back in to check on her.
Alas, it was time. We had to decide whether we would leave her in the nursery designed for her or move her into my office and design a "Big Girl" room. It made the most sense to make the move to a new room and leave the nursery as is. On the long weekend Matt painted and I sewed while Elle napped and we finished her room. To say she loves her room would be an under statement...she lights up and shows me everything in her room every time we go in there. "These are my books, this is my bed..." she is so thrilled. Everything fits perfectly and we were able to set up her kitchen and little table with more space and a better layout then in her previous room so we are all thrilled.
Along with the switch to her new "Big Girl Room" we decided to pull the "plug". As I was mentioning earlier our daughter has been a champ sleeper since the day we brought her home. She will sleep anywhere anytime. We would hand her her "plug" (passifier) and her blanket and she would sleep. Getting rid of the plug kept getting postponed for that very reason. We travel a lot and while that throws a lot of kids off, she would be fine....plug, blanket out cold, no matter where we were.
Moving into her new room was a big step but we thought if we explained it to her as part of being a big sister and if it was going to be an adjustment with her new found freedom, we mind as well do it all at once. So, the day we completed her room and showed it to her we asked her if she wanted to sleep there, she said "Yes" not even looking back one time. She knew it was her room and she will explain to anyone who shows any interest that her baby sister will sleep in the crib and that the nursery is her baby's room. This was great, so easy, probably too easy. We told her that babies need plugs and that she would have to leave it in the crib...still fine. She moved on.
We prepared ourselves for the challenge and put her to bed day one. She seemed a little unsure about going to sleep alone in her room but we convinced her it was okay, gave her a nightlight and left the door open. Many people warned us she would get out of bed and it would take a few nights to adjust but nothing prepared us for the reality of what switching our perfect little sleeper into her new room would be like.
She stayed in her bed and would call out for me periodically but would then go silent. She talked to herself and her "friends" in her room from 8 pm until 12:30...that's right our two year old was up until 12:30. While I was super happy she stayed in her room and for the most part in her bed, I was not happy with her new bedtime. Night number two she went to bed cried for about 10 minutes then fell asleep, awesome! When she went silent I went in to check on her I found her in her bed with Belle out cold. She didn't go to bed with Belle but if that's what she needed to sleep I'm totally fine with it. I thought this is it, one night and she has adjusted.
Unfortunately I was wrong. Over the past week, we have continued to adjust. Some nights are better than others, but it has been a transition for all of us. We allow her to read books in her bed as long as she stays in her bed and we go and put her back into her bed whenever we hear her out of bed. We check on her periodically but it is taking a long time for her to fall asleep, we've even begun to shorten her naps in an effort to get her to sleep better. It seems she is a little bit of a night hawk lately she has been falling asleep anywhere from 10:30-12:30. She takes a long time to wind down, kinda like someone else I know...cough, her dad, cough. While this stresses me out, I am trying to allow this adjustment to happen and we are just happy we started this transition with enough time to get her settled before the real craziness happens when baby number two is added.
One of our favourite things to do once she falls asleep is to go in and take a picture of how she is sleeping. There is no telling how you will find this kid, and for the record, yes we do leave her how we find her. Take a look, have a laugh and pray for us as we continue to transition.
