The big girl bed saga begins

A few weeks ago, I got a fantastic deal on a used toddler bed, including an extra mattress to throw on the floor beneath the bed for Elizabeth to use as a step and to save her from bonking her head if she rolls out. We've had it in our garage since then, and Elizabeth has shown great interest in it, always wanting to sit on it whenever she sees it. This morning, we decided to bite the bullet, take down the crib, put up the big girl bed in Elizabeth's room, cross our fingers, and see what happened.

At first, Scarlet was the only one interested in the bed:



Then, Elizabeth decided she wanted to be on the bed - mainly so she could torture play with the cat:



She soon realized the bed was a lot of fun, and spent most of the day throwing her toys on and off of it and using the extra mattress as a mini jungle gym.



David and I even took turns demonstrating to her how wonderful the new bed was going to be for sleeping. (Of course, he wasn't smart enough to hide the camera before his turn...hee, hee!)



Then, came the moment of truth - naptime. I'd like to tell you it all went smoothly, but that might be an exaggeration, if not an out-and-out lie. I tried to put her down once, and she quickly crawled off and went to the door and howled loud enough and long enough that we gave up for the timebeing. Then, the next time we tried, she was absolutely exhausted, so she ended up sleeping in the new bed. Hooray!



Unfortunately, that was short-lived. Her normal 1-1/2 hour nap only lasted for 30 minutes. Then, tonight, she was so exhausted, she again went right to sleep. However, she was back up again about 45 minutes later, again screaming at the door. David is now in with her putting her back down. Wish us luck for the rest of the night....we're definitely going to need it!