Big Girl Bed: Expectations vs. Reality

Funny how things never turn out the way you expect!



Up until this past weekend, if you had asked me what to expect when it came to Ashley's transition to her "Big Girl Bed" I would have insisted (and, in fact, DID insist) that convincing her to STAY in her new bed was surely going to be a nightmare and a battle all rolled into one! To put it another way...I was completely convinced that her enthusiasm and excitement about her new bed (as seen in these photos) was all part of her elaborate plan to lull us into thinking she was simply going to hop into bed and go "night-night!"

I was so completely convinced of this, actually, that we put off making the transition for a few months. But we finally got around to assembling the toddler bed (who am I kidding?...Pop-Pop did it for us...Thanks Pop-Pop!) and Peter took the crib apart on Saturday...and we made a little bit of a big deal about it, and then held our breath as we tucked her in and closed the door. A few little whimpers that might translate into "I don't know how I feel about this" that lasted about 35 seconds...and then NOTHING. I even sat right outside her door on the stairsteps, waiting. Not a peep...not a cry...not the pitter-patter of little feet shuffling to the door...NOTHING! What??!?! For real!?! That's right! It all went off without a hitch or a glitch! So we thought...

As it turns out, it is possible things did not go quite as smoothly as we led ourselves to believe.

Did she cry? No.
Did she wail "Mommy! Daddy! I want my crib!"? Uh-uh.
Did she get out of her bed and throw her toys around the room and bang on the door to get out? Absolutely not.

So, in many respects, it was a complete success.

But...by morning, we found ourselves faced with the need to redefine the experience by referring to it, as George W. would say, as "a catastrophic success"...b/c when I entered her room on Sunday morning, our wee little Big Girl was not, in fact, lying in her Big Girl Bed. Instead, she was stretched out on her tummy on the shag rug NEXT TO the Big Girl Bed.

OH! And that probably explains the loud THUMP sound we heard at about 11:30pm on Saturday night--which Peter and I both dismissed as Elizabeth kicking the wall with her foot, since the thump was not followed by crying or wailing.

The good news, however, is that Ashley has now spent TWO nights and two nap times in the bed and there are no new thumping sounds to report! :-)