Rowyn decided that she was a big girl now and leaped out of the crib one night after I put her down. She wasn't happy about going to sleep and I was just about to go back into her room to tell her to settle down when I heard a "thunk". I rushed in and flipped on the light and there was our innocent little lamb.... on the floor... staring up at me with big eyes. I didn't even know what to say. I was so shocked and surprised that I just stood there like a dolt. Needless to say, there were many many many nightime visits that night. I woke up around midnight to find her stsanding beside the bed staring at me... just hanging out looking at me. Weird and a not a little disconcerting! The was the end of the crib and the start of a LONG journey to her hockey bed.
The next day I ran out to the store and bought her new sheets, an Elmo book (Elmo is the fav these days) on "Elmo's countdown to bedtime" and a few other things for a transition to a big girl bed that night. We were optimistic that things would go well after a bit and anticipated a little resistance at first but NOTHING like we encountered.
Long story very short, we tried the "escort her back to bed with no eye contact, no emotion, and quickly" whenever she got out of bed. Theory being that she'd get tired of getting out of bed when there was no interaction from Mum or Dad. Nothing interesting = no getting out of bed.... Boy were the "experts" wrong on this one. We weren't even out of her room before her little pajama clad feed were hitting the floor to come back out. Hours and hours and hours later she'd fall asleep out of exhaustion only to be up 30 - 60 minutes later. I thought we were done with sleep issues after she was 6 months old. Nobody prepared me for this part!
I have to give Brad all the credit in the world for hanging out and dealing with little miss "i can get away with 3 hours of sleep a night" chick for an entire week while I travelled for work. What a trooper (even so, he desereved every bit of that hang over from unwinding that Saturday after I got back). Daddy of the year award goes to Brad.
ANyway, I digress. After a near divorce we FINALLY had a brainstorm. Out of desperation Brad put her crib back up and put her crib mattress on a built up box that was low enough that she couldnt' get out of. We kept the bed but used a consequence theme. We explained that if she got out of bed, she would go in the "little bed" (the crib). Her response "NO LITTLE BED MAMA! HOCKEY BED!!" Needless to say, she spent the first night in her little bed. Since then (about 2 weeks now) we haven't had to put her back into the crib, but we've left it up as the consequence for getting out of bed and remind her every night that she needs to stay in bed. Things are remarkably improving. She's happy with the light on a little bit and the door cracked open a bit. Mornings are early (5:30 a.m. - 6:00 a.m.) but we're not complaining... we're happy to get 7-8 solid hours of sleep. Our girl is MUCH happier too.
We're SO looking forward to Christmas and seeing family and friends! We're off to get our Christmas tree this weekend and decorate. More pics soon!
Hockey bed definition - Bed with guard rails... we had to think of something cool
Little bed definition - crib
Here's her room today. A little crowded, but it's working!!
The snow out our back and front door this morning. So pretty!
1 comment:
We had to do the same thing with the crib punishment with Tegan. Now if she gets out of bed - we close and 'lock' the door. Boy she hates that.
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