Tough Transition

The transition from crib to big bed to toddler bed, and now to sharing a room, has not been an easy one.

We switched Monkey into a twin-sized bed when she turned 2 years old. She had never climbed out of her crib. We worried — I did at least — that she would be out of her “big-girl” bed in no time.

Didn’t happen. I don’t even think it crossed her mind to climb out of bed on her own until she was nearly 3.

Even now, with the switch to the shared room, Monkey will climb into her bed, pile the covers around her, wait patiently until I can sing her lullabies, and fall asleep. Once she’s in bed, she’s in bed. It’s pretty remarkable.

Not surprisingly, Bun is a completely different story.

She started climbing out of her crib back in March. Not every night, but almost every nap time. We started “letting” her sleep in the guest bed; if nothing else, at least she wouldn’t hang a leg up on a crib rail.

We started making plans for the room renovation.

We ordered parts of Bun’s big-girl bed from IKEA, and they are ready for pick up. It’s the same style as Monkey’s but it only comes in white now, two years later. And once we add a mattress and bed clothes, it’s going to be $150 more than Monkey’s was, too. We’ll probably (correction: DearDR will probably) paint Monkey’s bed white to match.

In the meantime, we simply converted Bun’s crib to a daybed.

It wouldn’t matter if we magically transformed that bed into a playground of ponies and fairies: Bun wouldn’t stay in it. She is up and down and jumping and walking and trying to get into bed with Monkey and crying out for ‘mama’ by the gate that traps her in the room.

I go upstairs with the girls, and we brush teeth and read a book and have lullabies. I give kisses and hugs and we say our little nighttime prayer.

I let Bun go as long as I dare. But Monkey gets upset if Bun tries to get into bed with her. Or if she cries. Or if she tries to turn out the night light. Now, Monkey doesn’t actually get up out of bed and do anything about Bun, just yells for me.

One night, around 10 p.m., I went to check on things. Bun was kneeling morosely on the floor in between her and Monkey’s beds. Her pillow was on Monkey’s bed, and her blanket was by the door.

Monkey was curled up in her bed, asleep. Her hand was up over her face; she was on her side facing Bun’s bed. I think she was plugging her ears so she didn’t hear Bun wandering around the room or talking to her stuffed animals, and that’s how she, Monkey, fell asleep.

I go up and down the stairs a lot in between 8:30 and 10:30 p.m. these days. It’s driving me pretty nuts because that is MY time: to clean, and be on the computer, and do laundry, and read.

It hasn’t been a week yet. DearDR has not experienced the new bedroom phenomenon yet. I’m hoping he’ll have some ideas. Or, at least, he’ll make a trip or two up those stairs himself.