Allie's Transition to a Toddler Bed

Knowing that we were going to be moving a month before the baby is due, we had our plan for Allie's transition to a toddler bed. We figured that we would wait until after our move, wait a week or two so that Allie could get used to her new room and home, and then make the transition. That was the plan.

Here's a picture that we took of Allie sleeping in her crib one night. So peaceful. We took the picture because it reminded us of another picture we had of her sleeping. So don't mind the side note - or extra picture - please. We thought it was pretty cute and funny.

Allie asleep in crib at 23 months

Allie asleep in crib at 3.5 - 4 months

Back to the transition... We had our plan, but what happened, though, was that Allie started climbing out of her crib about two or three weeks before our move. It was a game to her. There was no hope of keeping her in her crib. We had bought a toddler bed, but it was packaged very efficiently in its original box, and we didn't want to put it together right before our move. So we just put her mattress on the floor and all of her toys in the crib. She would still play around and talk to herself for awhile, but then she would make it back to her mattress and fall asleep.

One night, she was quiet and so we figured she was asleep. We opened the door, looked in, and asked ourselves,

"Where is she?" 

Then we found her.

We moved her back to the mattress so that she would be more comfortable. A few times she actually fell asleep underneath her cube and slide toy (partially seen in above pictures).

When we moved into our new apartment, we went ahead and set up the "big girl" bed for her. She was fairly excited, but given the new environment and complete freedom, it would take her at least two hours to fall asleep each night. We would put her toys in the closet so that she couldn't play with them, but then her books were a big temptation. Allie would turn on her light and start reading to herself. This is how she fell asleep one night.

After about three weeks, she finally started staying in her bed and going to sleep more quickly. We're all happier now that she is getting better sleep.