The Saga of the Big Girl Bed

Erin has decided that she is now 2-1/2 and a big girl, and big girls do not sleep in cribs. Here is the story of how it went down:

1. We went to the beach over Easter, and brought our pack and play. She has not slept in one since we moved in November, but we really didn't think anything of it since she has always slept in it fine. Wrong. The first night there, she screamed as if she had just seen a snake and proceeded to climb out of the pack and play. Bob put her back in, and repeat. So, for the 3 nights and 2 naps at the beach, she slept on a queen bed with pillows around her and one of us in bed with her or in the twin bed next to her. She loved it, but we did not love it at 2am, 3am, etc...

2. We come home, all is well in the crib for 3 nights at home. We go to Concord last Friday, and she again screams and climbs out of my parents' crib at naptime. The weird thing is that she has slept in that crib about once every 3 weeks for her entire life without any problem. So now we figure that this is not an isolated pack and play incident, or perhaps the pack and play incident has gotten her little wheels turning. We move her to another bedroom with a twin bed and bedrail and she does not like it, but does sleep by herself in the bed the second nap and night.

3. We decide that Erin has spoken and we might as well make "the change" at home too. We come home, move her crib to Anna's room, and return Oliver's crib to him (thanks, guys!). Now, after 2 nights, she is doing ok. She wants to sleep in her little armchair instead of in her bed (which is actually a twin mattress and box spring with a bedrail since we were caught off-guard and did not have a bed frame yet), but she is not crying *as much* when it's time to go to sleep. There were LOTS of screaming and tears over the weekend. Last night and for nap today, she even stayed in the bed when we told her to and fell asleep on her own...but woke up later and got out. Oh well, she will get it.

Our baby is growing up! Next up...The Saga of the Potty...which looks to be much more challenging from what we have seen so far!