Big girl bed success!

I got to work pretty quick on mitigating my feelings of pre-baby panic yesterday. I decided to get over my angst and confusion about Bean transitioning to her big girl bed and just try it. I decided that she could at least start taking naps there instead of in her crib, so in the morning I moved all the stuffed animals and her 4 blankies from her crib into her big girl bed. I told her that she'd be taking a nap there today instead. "Okay," she agreed cheerfully, to my surprise. I'd tried this before but been met with big resistance. Maybe the blankies and animals moving too made the difference. Haven't done that before.

I kept Bean busy that morning, going out to a local children's museum, then for a pizza lunch, followed by a walk to an ice cream shop a few doors down. By the time we walked back to the car, she was rubbing her eyes and yawning. She fell asleep on the car ride home.

When I transferred her from her car seat to her big girl bed, she opened her eyes, looked around and took note of where she was...and fell right back to sleep for the next hour and a half. After a delightful little nap of my own I peeked in on her and saw that she was still lying in bed, but awake and apparently just thinking about whatever it is 2-1/2 year olds think about. Success!

It went so well that Husband and I decided to put her down there for bed last night, too. Sister happened to be on a 2-hour delayed schedule for school this morning so I figured that even if they treated it like a slumber party they'd still both get enough sleep. (I should mention here that Bean's big girl bed is the bottom bunk in Sister's room.) Indeed they DID both treat it like a slumber party. They chatted together for awhile, with both of them periodically squealing with delight at finding themselves with company at night. But again, no complaints from Bean. While it took them about 45 minutes to get over their glee, both girls did finally settle in and fall asleep peacefully for the rest of the night.

Phew! I hate to believe I'm in the clear so easily, but so far so good! Bean is in her big girl bed as I write this, still chatting to herself and singing, "Winnie Wah Pooh." But it's only been 10 minutes and I'm optimistic.