Big Girl Bed

On Friday March 1st Lyla decided that her crib was no longer a place for her to sleep. Yes, my baby is no longer an actual baby. 

She walks. She talks...a lot. She faces forward in the car. She feeds herself. She dresses herself. She does her business on the potty. And now she sleeps in a BIG GIRL BED!

And I have lost all my excuses on why I need to wait to have another baby....and NO I am not pregnant or even thinking about it. Although Adam is. And Lyla is. She asks for a baby to live at her house almost every day. This momma is not ready though. Sorry.

There are very few signs of baby left in my baby. She still has that soft baby skin. She smells so sweet after her bath. She still loves my kisses. And she still likes to be snuggled and have her back rubbed and be rocked in her rocking chair at bedtime (yes, she is the world's best procrastinator as well). And she still loves to be carried around. All 31 pounds of her. And I just cannot say no, because well, how long will she want to be carried. So of course I oblige :)

Anyways, I love this big girl and all her silliness. 

So naptime on Friday March 1st. That is when my baby officially grew up. She has always loved her crib. She has always slept well. Both of which a am SO thankful for. I had just figured she would let us know when she was ready for the transition.

This particular day, she did not actually sleep during her naptime, but she knows that she has to have rest time at least, so she was just happy playing in her crib. Around the end of naptime, I heard a door open and shut upstairs. I figured it was just the ac or something kicking on and I had not shut the door all the way, so it shut when the air turned on.

The next thing I knew, our cat started freaking out, which of course made my heart rate speed up. She was staring into the kitchen area from the living room. I heard someone moving things around. It never once crossed my mind that it could be Lyla, since she never showed any interest in getting out of her crib. But when I turned around, there was a little hand reaching up on the kitchen counter helping herself to something. NO. FEAR. I tell you. I am in for it with the girl as far as that is concerned. 

I was in total shock that she had gotten out of her crib (without any sort of sound, bump, or bruise), made it all the way down the hall, down the stairs and into the kitchen without me hearing her.

I guess she decided that naptime was over and she was ready for snack time. Crazy girl!! I took her upstairs and put her back in her crib and asked her how she got out, but she would not show me her ways. She had also thrown all her animals and babies out of the crib as well. 

Since I had read that the first time your child climbs out of their crib is when you need to move them to their big kid bed, I knew that we had to get it set up for that night. We at this point had not painted her room and Adam had not even started on her bed (he is building her a bunk bed). But we had a twin bed that belonged to my sister in one of our guest rooms, so we decided that would work for now. 

I was SO nervous about her having the freedom of a bed. I mean, this girl has no fear, so of course she would be out of it within two seconds of us walking out the door!! I figured I was in for a LONG night and I could say goodbye to naptime/rest time. Once again, I under-estimated my sweet girl. Sleep time has been our BIGGEST routine and it is no different in her big girl bed. She LOVES her bed and (knock on wood) has never gotten out of it. It is a twin, currently, (it will be a full eventually) and it is pushed up along the wall with a rail on the other side. She stays in it all night and if she needs me she just calls me or cries over the monitor. During naptime, if she chooses not to sleep, she will stay in her bed the full two hours until I come and get her! Amazing child I have!! I really truly have to attribute it to our sleep routine that we have instilled since she was born. Routines for children are SO incredibly important and SO needed.

I always remind her as I leave her room that she cannot get out of bed until mommy or daddy come and get her. And guess what? My smart, sweet girl listens!! In the morning she is sitting at the end of the bed in between her foot board and side rail waiting patiently for me to come get her. Amazing. Thank you LORD! And to top it off, I am greeted with a smile and "moorning momma!!" (whether it's morning or after naptime :) ) 

PLEASE ignore the ugly walls! They have since been painted to a light pink on top and darker pink on bottom, per Lyla's request. I know I owe y'all a post on the updates we have done on our house since we moved in. Coming soon, I promise!!

Happy Big Girl.

All ready for bed. Her first night in her big girl bed.

And while I love my big girl, I can't help think about how she has grown oh too quickly out of my baby. Unfortunately, she has not looked back. Not for one second.