The words, “Big Girl Bed” have absolutely terrified me for months now. With Baby Spach #2  coming this Fall, I have been preparing myself for this big transition. If you will remember, when we moved in January, Nora struggled for about a month with night terrors while she was out of her beloved crib. Once we got moved to the farm, her crib was set back up in her new room and the night terrors stopped immediately, so you can see why I have been dreading this change. I wanted to give her enough time to transition, so I decided to start sooner rather than later. I wanted her to feel a sense of ownership and pride of her new big girl bed so here is what I did:

* I gave her three options of bedding from Target and let her pick which one she wanted. “Purple!” she squealed as she very definitively pointed to the purple and teal polka dot/lattice ruffle print set.

* Nora moved around in her crib a TON. So we used a full mattress instead of a twin. We also have kept her mattress on the floor – good thing we did, because she rolled right off last night!

* After her diaper change and getting into our jams, we lay down together in her bed and snuggle under the covers with a basket of books and read for a while. Then we shut off the lights, say our prayers and sing together for a little while.

* The hardest thing…make sure she has a hold of her pink bear, say “Night, night! Mommy loves you!” Kiss her on the head, walk out and close the door. The past three nights, she has cried for about a minute or less, but has stayed in her bed and not tried to follow me out.

For naps, I have simply changed her diaper, laid her down and walked out of the room, closing the door behind me. Again, a few tears, but she has not tried to get out of her bed. I have also done over the top (like dancing, clapping, kissing and high-fiving) when she wakes up and tell her how proud I am of her for sleeping in her big girl bed.

Her old crib is still up in her room, and hopefully we will be taking it down this weekend. We decided to keep it up in case she totally didn’t go for the big girl bed, but seeing as it’s gone so well this week, down it will come. She has been throwing her baby dolls into the crib this week and saying, “Night, night Baby _____” (yes, baby Spach has a name!) and blowing the baby a kiss, so I think she understands that her crib is now for the new baby. Hopefully when she gets here in September Nora will feel just as loving 🙂

So that’s what we have been up to this week. Fingers crossed that Nora’s great big girl sleeping keeps up and that potty training goes just as well in the coming months!