The big girl bed (part 1).

I'm gonna try and write the cliff notes version of this post, because it has the potential to get really long and out of hand.  Long story short, we've moved Riley into a big girl bed at the ripe age of 18 months.  Here's what's gone down so far:

• sometime in early December she started hating her crib, and asking/demanding to sleep in a bed
• because of our temporary living situation, she slept in our bed for a few weeks, and then we moved back to NZ
• due to a combination of sickness, jet lag, and holiday vacation, Riley remained part time in our bed just about until the end of December
• so, starting about Dec 30, Riley was in her own bed, in her own room.  sort of.
  

So here are the obstacles we've faced/a summary of how the first 2 weeks in a big girl bed have gone.  Keep in mind, if she hadn't started hating her crib and demanding a bed, we would not have transitioned her out of the crib already, so I wasn't totally convinced she was really ready for a bed.  But here's what it's been like:

• To start with, she LOVES her bed.  She likes playing in it, jumping on it, and ALWAYS gets in her bed willingly for naps and bed time.  I didn't really expect that.
• She does NOT yet fall asleep on her own in her bed.  I usually lay with her and sing her songs until she falls asleep.  Most nights that takes between 5-10 minutes, and then I leave her room.  We are working on slowly moving away from that and getting her to fall asleep on her own, but I don't think she's quite ready for that yet. 
  
• She has slept all night in her bed without waking a couple time, but more often she wakes up 1-2 times and calls for me.  I really try and go in to her and get her back to sleep as quickly as possible, which usually only takes a few minutes, but some times if she's fighting it or it's taking too long, I bring her in our bed so we can all get some sleep.
• So far she has fallen out of bed once, but she landed on pillows and didn't even wake up.  Nor did she wake up when I picked her up and put her back in bed.
• She LOVES being able to get herself out of bed after naps, and it's possibly the cutest thing ever.
• At night she doesn't really try to get out of bed when she wakes, she always calls for me first.  I imagine if I didn't respond, then she would come and find me.
• If she gets tired in the evening, or even before nap time, she asks for her paci and blankie and says "nigh-nigh" and gets in bed.  Now, she wants me to follow her and lay with her, but she actually likes sleeping and tells me when she wants to.
• For the first time, when she wakes up from a nap, she will actually play for a little while in her room.  She can gather books and toys and give herself a few minutes to wake up happily.
• Also?  This is what happens EVERY SINGLE NIGHT before bed.  We do bath, brush teeth, and then I tell her to go hop in bed...
  

It cracks me up every time.  Do you like how she's giving me the stare down once she gets herself all situated?  She's like, "wait, why aren't you coming in too mama??"  :)

So basically, we're still working on the transition.  She loves her bed, loves sleeping in it, and falls asleep in just minutes as long as I'm laying with her.  She does NOT fall asleep on her own like she used to in her crib, and she usually still wakes up once and calls for me or wants to come into bed.  But we're taking it slowly, and she's getting better, and if it all becomes too much chaos when baby brother gets here, then we'll come up with a different approach.  So I'm sure there will be a "big girl bed (part 2) post in the near future.