The Big-Girl Bed

Well, we decided to go for it. With Jiblet due in June, we needed Aubrey out of the crib. And, of course, we wanted to make the transition well before baby boy arrives. After all, we didn't want Aubrey resenting her little brother for stealing her crib, and we had no idea how long it would take to fully transition her. So crazy as it may be, we put our not-yet-two-year-old in a twin-size bed.

Thankfully, she is a fan of all things "big girl" related, so she was very excited about the whole thing before it happened. When her mattress arrived, she jumped and played on it while saying, "My big-girl bed!" (Of course in the video I got, she's eating crackers and refuses to say anything, but hey...)

After all of the separate pieces arrived, we let Aubrey watch the process of putting the bed together. She was very excited. And when I unveiled her sheets and bedspread, she gasped and said, "Hearts! Hearts hearts hearts!" Total win.

There she was, all ready to go. We were hopeful but not delusional; we knew it would be a process. So when she came out of her room less than five minutes later (the stupid door handle was broken, so no problems there), we weren't surprised. Daniel threatened to put her back in the crib (which we left in the room as a safety net), and she said, "Yeah, crib!" This did surprise us, but we decided to acquiesce. 

I don't remember exactly what happened the second night. I think it was something fairly similar. Only we cheated and transferred her from the crib to the bed around 10:30. So then, when she woke up in the big-girl bed the next morning, I praised her for doing such a good job and sleeping in it! She totally bought it, and I think it helped her get over any fears... 'cause she'd already slept in it and been fine, right? See, lying to your kids is totally a good idea. ;)

On the third night, it finally stuck! She cried for us twice, and Daniel had to put her back in bed. But after he put her back the second time, she stayed and fell asleep. Woo!

To aid the whole process (and because our sound-only monitor started crapping out), we bought a cheap video monitor and installed it a few days in. This allowed us to determine some bedtime patterns (and make sure Aubrey wasn't using her new-found freedom to destroy things). 

We discovered that she would pretty much immediately get out of the bed after we left. Case in point:

She mostly spent her time "reading," but there was definitely some toy dumping and wandering around as well. Eventually, she'd climb on the bed--when she was good and ready--like so:

(Creepy that she's totally looking right at the camera, huh? She thinks it's a lamp. Heh.)

Anyway, then she'd lie down on top of the covers and wait to fall asleep. See her open, glowing eyes?

Finally, she'd fall asleep. Isn't she cute? D'awww.

Success! Sure, she played around for awhile instead of sleeping, but she never stayed up too long. And best of all, she slept until 7:00 or so and then played happily in her room until after 8:00. Mommy loves sleeping in. :)

BUT (there's always a "but" with these things), nap time was simply not happening. Which, for Mommy, was simply not okay. I'd try putting her down in the big-girl bed, but she'd be out of it before I even left the room. Attempts to put her back in the bed led to painful (for me) wrestling matches. Lying down with her in the hopes of inspiring her to sleep led to giggles and pacifiers shoved in my face. Leaving her alone to "figure it out" led to, well, this:

So in the end, she kept ending up in her crib for nap time. And one of those times, she was so upset about it that she ended up just crying off and on for an hour anyway--and not napping.

So when we disassembled the crib in a no-turning-back kind of move, nap time got shot to... yeah. It seemed that my only options were to stick Aubrey back in bed every time she got out--which, again, was a wrestling match too intense for this pathetic pregnant chick--or accept that the best I was going to get was quiet time with books in her room. No more nap.

But then, in a last-ditch effort to hold on to nap time, I decided to put Aubrey in bed with some books. "You can read your books," I told her, "but you have to stay in bed." And amazingly, she did. And better yet, she fell asleep in the process! Reading in bed--it makes everyone fall asleep, right? 

So although it's only been two days of successful bed napping, I'm hopeful about the whole thing. She's staying in bed at night (and playing around less and less). She's napping in the afternoon. And in the morning, if she wakes up too early, she can always fall asleep in her chair!

Man, we have the greatest kid. 

...if you want

Favorite Aubreyisms:

• "You okay?" or "You hurt?" or, better yet, "You need a (big) hug?" when I wince or say "ouch"
• "You want French toast?" when I get upset
• "I have heartburn." (obviously just saying something she's heard Mommy say a lot)
• "How about..."
• "You go too, Mommy?" when she wants me to play in her tent with her
• "Need help?" when it's clear I'm struggling with something
• "Robot" for "robe"
• "I sorry, [name of stuffed animal]" if they fall down or if she has decided that they are sad for some reason
• "No, I'm fine" when we ask if she needs help with something
• "W, X, W, X!" when she gets mad (she might think that's what I'm saying when I say, "What the heck?")
• "I need to work" as she grabs the laptop
• "Hold you on the ground" when she wants me to sit on the floor and hold her on my lap (usually when she's upset)
• "Here's [object]... if you want."

• She likes to climb into our laundry basket and say, "Beep beep! I driving a car!"
• One of our current library books is The Bear Feels Sick, which often repeats the phrase, "and the bear feels sick." Every time we read that line from the book, she says, "Awww."
• When she's eating something, she always offers some to us. She'll say, "Do you want some [food], Mommy?" She's a great sharer.
• She often knocks on a door or wall and says, "Is someone in there?" 
• Sometimes, out of nowhere, she'll say in a pathetic voice, "I'm sick." She gets a very sad look on her face, but it's clear that it's all an affectation. 
• She kisses her own owwies.
•  She still loves the library and is obsessed with a book called Ping Pong Pig. She often just mentions him or says something about the book being back at the library. 
• She loves watching song clips from movies. Her favorites right now are from the movies Frozen, Beauty and the Beast, Lion King, The Little Mermaid, Hairspray, Aladdin, Mulan, Mary Poppins, and Tangled. She can actually grab a phone or iPad, open the YouTube app, and select videos all on her own. It's kind of scary. When asking for the song "First Time in Forever," she says, "First Time Morever."
• On a related note, she randomly sings out "in summer!" from Frozen and says, "Please don't shut me out," which is from another song. She also randomly says the phrases, "diamond in rough" and "magic carpet" from Aladdin.
• Her current favorite song is "Barbara Ann" by the Beach Boys. She calls it "Bob Bob Bob Bob" and asks for it all the time. She's a fan of their music in general, actually, and calls it "dance music."
• She likes to "hide" by bending over and putting her head on the ground. She also likes hiding in the pantry.

• She's very interested in anything related to being a "big girl." She recently started eating a lot better simply because we took away the tray for her high chair and slid the chair up so she could eat at the table with us "like a big girl."
• She's excited about being a big sister (though she doesn't really understand that concept obviously), and she likes to gently stroke my stomach to say hi to baby brother. When I say we're going to Mommy's doctor, she says, "Hear the heartbeat!"
• One of her favorite books to "read" is a cupcake decorating book I keep with our cookbooks. She loves the pictures.
• She likes to play a game in which she says, "I need to go bye-bye" and then says, "I need a kiss" before saying goodbye and leaving the room.
• When we read to her (or when she's looking at books herself), she'll often "hug" the characters in the book by turning her head to the side and putting her cheek against them. She also does this with people on video chat.
• She insists on brushing her teeth when I brush mine, and she always says, "I need more water" and holds her toothbrush under the faucet for awhile.
• I say things like "nappy nap" and "snacky snack," and Aubrey has picked up on that construction and uses it freely. She has recently said things like "stucky stuck" and "dancey dance."
• She has started to say, "I can't get the [insert object she sees in a book]" as she tries to grab whatever it is. Her new thing is trying to pick up the rocks that are part of the asphalt sidewalk and saying, "I can't get those rocks."
• Sometimes she'll stick her lips out into a pout and talk in a really low voice to be silly.
• She has started singing along to songs she knows, and it's the cutest thing ever. She will also sing songs by herself, seemingly out of the blue. I particularly love when she sings the alphabet song, which is often. (Note: This video is not very good. I was trying to be sneaky, but she saw me. And she's not into performing for the camera, so this is the only video I've got of this for now.)

• She calls her stuffed animals "friends" and insists on taking them downstairs with her every morning. She designates to me which ones I should take and which ones she'll be taking. ("You take Teetagee and Pookie; I'll take Olaf.")
• Much to our delight, she has started saying "please" when she asks for things. She never says it when asking for food (instead it's always "I need..."), but she'll say it when asking for help or favors or whatever.
• She likes to pretend to make food for us. She'll ask if we want something (usually French toast), and then she'll disappear into the kitchen for a second before coming back with her hands cupped in front of her. She then hands us the "food" and offers us more once we've "eaten" it.
• We often say, "Do you want [something] or not?", to which she often replies, "Or not."
• She randomly says, "We don't say shut up." This is because she has heard Mommy say it to Daddy every time he makes fun of her (which is often), and now we've had to tell her it's not something we should say. 
• When we were in Colorado visiting the Jibsons, Daniel's sister gave her string cheese. She responded, "I need cheddar." That's my girl!
• When she got super sick in February and coughed so much that she couldn't sleep, there was one night she woke up at 3:30 and just never went back to sleep. The following day, she fell asleep while eating breakfast. 

Note that she actually had food in her mouth at the time!