Yesterday marked the beginning of the end for Liza's crib. While she's never actually made an escape attempt, Liza is now tall enough that she technically could vault over the side of her crib, with predictably concussion-inducing consequences. Our crib isn't convertible, and the toddler beds I've seen are either too pricey or too tacky to appeal to me, especially since that's just one more set of sheets and blankets I'd have to buy, only to have them be outdated a few months later.
Liza has recently started laying down on her big bed and snuggling for a while before we put her in the crib, so I figured we might as well give this whole bed thing a try. Hopefully she'll be out of the crib in time for us to hock it at the consignment sale coming up this spring.
Now that we have installed the guardrails on her "big girl" bed ($40 at Baby Depot, in case anyone else is in the market for side rails), there's no reason she can't take her naps (and eventually nights) in a real bed. You can see she hates the idea ...
That's (sniff!) my big girl ... She's particularly excited that there's a window right at the head of her big girl bed, a window she can look through to watch the traffic on Main Street. And, in one of the cutest moves I've ever seen in my entire life, she decided to share the view with her posse:
From left to right, Bob the Blanket, Warren the Pink Kitty, The Duck of Doom, and Anya the Bunny
Also attractive in the new bed is the concept of "sheets," which she loves, despite her total spurning of anything covering her in her crib. I guess the sheets work better for peekaboo than a crib quilt does ... you be the judge:
Peeka ...
Boo!
Cue hysterical toddler giggles
Ya gotta love that hand-and-foot combination for working the sheet - she's nothing if not devoted to her peeking.
So far I've worked her into hanging out in the bed for stories, peekaboo, and singing, but she still asks to go to her crib for the actual sleeping. This isn't a bad thing, as we're simultaneously trying to break her of the habit of jumping - really high - on beds. "Only little girls jump, and they jump in cribs. Big girls don't jump on their beds," is the party line for now, which means that for now she's got to do her five minute pre-nap aerobic workout in her crib. And once we get her taking naps in the crib, I'm going to be posted outside the door to nip any jumping in the bud. Fun way to spend my afternoons, huh?
More in a little while, once I edit the ridiculously cute kid video and dump it to Youtube.
3 comments:
>>And once we get her taking naps in the crib, I'm going to be posted outside the door to nip any jumping in the bud. Fun way to spend my afternoons, huh?<<
I love reading about your little girl and the fun you have as a mom. I think I especially enjoy it because my grandson is just a few months behind her in age.
However, the sentence above is a little confusing to me. Did you mean to say that once she begins taking naps in the big girl bed...you'll be posted outside the door to make sure she doesn't jump in that bed as opposed to her being able to jump in the crip (because it has bigger rails)?
Grandma ViVi
aka
G Shockley
Gretchen, I agree with your opinion of toddler beds. When Nathan & Rebecca graduated from their mattress on the floor, we were able to find nice twin beds (with frames&sheets) at the furniture resale store.
But, I'm not certain that I agree with you about jumping on the bed. I wouldn't expect that the child would be heavy enough to damage the bed.
Or is it a worry about damage to the child rather than damage to the bed?
- MLF
Grandma Vivi - Oops, meant to say, "and once we get her used to taking naps in the bed, I'm going to be ..." Right now she stands up and bounces on the bed anytime I'm not actively either reading to her, throwing stuffed animals at her head, or telling her not to jump. So whenever she decides to try sleeping in the bed, I know I'm in for a lot of barging in to stop the bouncing.
MLF - I don't give a crap about the bed, but I'd rather keep my kid's head intact. She fell out of our bed (which is much higher) twice as an infant, and she fell off of a lower bed once in October when she was jumping on my bed at my parents' house. I think we've already used up our "avoid serious spinal injury" cards.
Post a Comment