Little Days: Big Girl Bed

Well folks, I was wrong.

Actually, I was right before I was wrong. Back when I wrote the post on weaning, I said that nothing is as big a deal as I think it's going to be.

For the last few months, I've been dragging my feet about converting Ayla's crib to a toddler bed, dreading all the re-sleep-training I was going to have to do. I should've listened to myself and all my friends who just did this and had great results.

I mean, if you've ever seen Ayla in her pre-sleep state, you can understand my hesitancy. She treated her crib like a wrestling ring, flinging herself from one side to the other, doing flips, rearranging the toys, pillows and blankets, making tents and tunnels for herself, just about anything but actually laying still.

One thing she hadn't done, until last weekend's failed-but-hilarious attempt at a sleepover with her best friend, is climb out of her crib. Even then, when she showed she could climb out safely, she learned quickly that she wasn't allowed to until Mommy came to get her.

Which leads us to this post. We (and when I say "we" I mean her Daddy) took the side off last night. And she was so excited to sleep in her big girl bed (which is the exact same place, mattress, pillow, etc.. she has slept in all her life, but you wouldn't know it by her reaction!), she didn't budge! All night!

Before: freedom?

This is her "pretend you're sleeping" face

After: happy girl in the morning

Thinking this was surely a fluke and would certainly not be repeated at nap time, I hunkered down for a long fight this afternoon. Nope. She was still, quiet and slept an extra hour!

So, of course, now that I'm posting this, I'll probably jinx it and she'll be back to her shenanigans soon. The smile on her face as she snuggles into her "new bed" is totally worth it!

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Little Days: Kitchen Helper

Ayla is finally starting to earn her keep around here by being my little helper in the kitchen. As most parents of kids around this age learn, their "help," can turn cooking (and cleaning up!) into a new adventure.

One thing Ayla's getting pretty good at is helping me crack eggs. In fact, if she spies or even thinks she hears me pulling the eggs out of the fridge, she comes running in yelling, "I needa help!" We get out her cute little apron, she climbs up on her little stool and I let her crack the eggs into a separate bowl before we pour them into their final destination. Since fried eggs are one of her most reliable staples for breakfast, she gets lots of practice cracking eggs!

This comfort with eggs did result in a pretty funny story. A few weeks ago, I took Ayla over to my friend's house for a play date. Since this friend's kids were school age, it was actually a play date for the mommies, but Ayla had full access to their ample playroom. We were upstairs having a nice chat, when she popped her cute little head up the stairs and told me she needed help with the eggs. There was a play kitchen down there, so I followed her back, curious what help she needed.

Turns out, she had discovered the pile of Easter eggs, stashed away and forgotten in a corner and had begun cracking them. After several empty eggs, she must have been so confused and decided to call in the big guns! My friend assured me her kids wouldn't miss them, we had a good laugh and swept up the tiny colored bits of shell.

The moral of the story is, if you are around Ayla and don't want your eggs cracked, don't let her see them!

Join the Little Days link up!

Share a post of what makes the days with your children special. 

The goal of this link up is to encourage busy mommas to remember the little moments that outweigh the struggles and make it worth the adventure.