I can’t believe we just celebrated Lilah’s 2nd birthday! The last two years have gone by so quickly. Lilah is becoming a little girl right before our eyes. The last 6 months have been filled with incredible change. Only 6 short months ago, Lilah was saying just a few words. Today, she is talking up a storm, using full sentences and more words than I ever would have dreamt of 6 months ago! Her ability to play independently has really blossomed and her imagination is running away with itself. In addition to all of the developmental changes, we just recently tackled the transition from crib to bed!
Sleeping in a ‘Big Girl’ Bed:
Whenever we asked Lilah when she was going to sleep in the bed she would say, “When the baby comes.” In her mind, she was going to be able to sleep in the crib until the baby needed it. However, we knew we wanted to try to make the transition about the time of her birthday. We had been talking a lot about it and had been putting a full sized pillow in her crib for several weeks with the hope that would also help with the transition (I have always thought that it must be a strange concept to go from sleeping without a pillow for 2+ years to having one).
We gave Lilah her ‘big girl’ bedding for her birthday in hopes that it would get her even more excited about sleeping in the bed. We put all of the bedding on her bed right away and asked her every afternoon and night if she wanted to sleep in it, but she wouldn’t have it. About a week later, she actually expressed an interest in sleeping in it for her nap so I ran with it. I thought that staying in the bed with her might help, but after a few minutes of her wanting to play, I decided that wasn’t going to work. Luckily, she wasn’t concerned that I was leaving. I ended up going back in the room 3 times to get her back into bed, but she eventually fell asleep and took her nap as per usual. That night, we decided to try again and she was totally happy about going to sleep in the bed and went off to sleep without a sound. I checked on her more times than was really necessary because I was paranoid about her falling out (she still isn’t very good at staying in one place), but I only had to adjust her once.
The next day, she decided that she wanted to sleep in her crib for her nap which I let her do because I didn’t want to push the bed if she wasn’t feeling 100% ready. It was a step back, but I wasn’t worried. That night, she went to sleep in the bed without a problem and is sleeping there today for her nap!
It is so strange to look in at her sleeping in the bed. It seems like such a huge step! It hasn’t been nearly as hard for me as transitioning her from the bassinet to the crib, but I am feeling a little nostalgic anyway. My little girl is growing up!
Our next goal: Potty training!
