The toddler bed saga…

So this week we decided to move Amina into her toddler bed… finally.  I’ve been putting it off as long as possible as I really enjoyed ‘my’ time during her naps and in the mornings while she typically played and sung happily in her bed even after she woke up.  On Saturday she woke up and Doug put the bed in her room so it would be ready for nap time that day.  She was so excited to sleep in her new bed that she asked to go to bed all morning.  We only made it until about 11:30 before she just had to go lay down in her bed.  After about 10 minutes she realized she hadn’t eaten lunch and was crying that she was hungry, so I got her up and fed her lunch before putting her back down for her nap.  She stayed in bed really well for that nap – I’m sure it was the novelty of the new bed.  At night that first night she woke up and cried in her bed for about 30 minutes so I went in and sang to her and calmed her down for another half hour or so.  Since then the nights had been great – she goes right down and stays in bed all night.  She just gets up earlier than we’re used to and comes into our room with us.  Doug has decided to rename her our little alarm clock.  ;)  But naps have been a struggle after the first couple of days.  Our dear sweet Amina is realizing she has more independence now and is pushing it.  I tried putting up a baby gate in front of her door so that she would at least have to stay in her room.  But the first time I tried that she just climbed right over it.  The next time I tried to put it up a little higher so she couldn’t climb over it, but then she just pushed it over.  (When I asked her about it she said “I pushed it with my belly” all proudly).  On Wednesday this week I had to put her back in bed 15 times and she still wouldn’t stay, despite the fact she was getting a spanking each time – which i really hate to do.  I ended up putting her back in her crib after that because i was just so done.   And of course she was asleep within 10 minutes of being in her crib.  Doug was able to work from home on Thursday and was able to be the nap police for me that afternoon and she got by with only 5 times out of bed.  Today I wasn’t  looking forward to how nap time would go, but we talked a lot about how she needed to stay in her bed and get her rest.  I gave her a magnetic drawing board to play with in bed while she was falling asleep.  I was listening to her on the baby monitor and she was ‘spanking’ her baby doll and telling her she needed to stay in bed.  LOL! She actually stayed there for about 20 minutes before coming out of her room this time.  Then she had a stinky diaper and wanted me to change her.  So I did, and then I put her back to bed and told her she needed to stay there to sleep.  Much to my surprise she was quiet within 10 minutes and has been sleeping for almost an hour now.  Wow! I really hope this is a breakthrough and that it really only took a week of excessive patience.  Though tomorrow we have a birthing class and will be gone all day, so she will not have a normal routine.  I hope that doesn’t throw her off!  Now to get used to getting up earlier so I can shower before “Our Little Alarm Clock” comes into our room.