Monday, January 11, 2010

Sleeping, Mommy Dearest, Cribs & LPs

The girls have been sleeping through the night in their cribs for the past three nights (? could be more than that) without assistance from Mommy or Daddy. Anna continues to nap drop and yesterday, we decided to wake Em and Allie at 2:30 instead of 3:00. It has made a huge difference at bedtime if they haven't had a long nap in the afternoon. We also have a bit of a new bedtime routine. I had been sitting on the floor while the girls sat on little chairs to read them some books at night. Think library story time.

Over the past month or so, we've noticed that that the girls' attention span has been getting progressively worse. They are constantly standing up, running around, sitting on their sisters, etc. After reading to them, I spend about five minutes cuddling with each one alone in the glider. They started asking if they could look through a book during cuddle/alone time with me so we have dropped the story time at the library reading session and moved right to cuddle time. We have also been allowing them to flip through a book in their crib while they wait for cuddle time. Whether intentional or not, the books in the cribs have been left there and I actually heard the girls flipping through their books yesterday morning.

I did have a Mommy Dearest moment last night with respect to the books in the cribs. Rich and I had tucked the girls in for the night and they seemed to be doing really well until I heard someone coughing, like a choking cough, so I ran up there to find Allie lying down coughing. She was fine. I managed to leave without any crying. Shortly after, I hear pleas for more water from Allie. You have to understand too that when she does this, you would think that she hasn't had anything to drink in a week. So I return to fetch the empty sippie cup. Of course, when they see me, they all decide that they want new books so I make an effort to switch up the books without anyone having a breakdown.

Two minutes later, I hear, "I want another book." I couldn't help myself. It was if Mommy Dearest had taken over my body and forced me to storm up to their room and yell, "This. Is It. If I hear one more complaint about the books, I'm taking them all out of here. And there will be no. more. books." I left and there was silence. Then some quiet chatting. Then silence. There were no additional requests for book transfers. I don't even know how they were looking at the books in the first place as their room was fairly dark.

Speaking of normal everyday stuff, I offered to care for the girls solo yesterday morning so that Rich could sleep in. (I, of course, was going to take a nap after Rich was up and about.) Shortly after I had contained the girls downstairs, I noticed seven deer eating on our property in the "meadow" area. It would have been a great photo opportunity as the sun had not dappled that area yet and the snow was completely covering the ground. I don't know if any of you have deer in your area but they are startled quite easily and after Anna thumped her head against the glass door, the deer seemed to have lost their comfort zone and soon took off running through the wooded area. Another three deer chased after them.

Question for those of you who have transitioned your little ones to toddler or regular beds: Did you use sheets and blankets/comforters for bedding or did you just stick with smaller blankets? The reason I ask is that the girls still wear sleepsacks, mainly to keep them from jumping ship, and unfortunately, they seemed to have formed an odd attachment to them. To the point that Allie likes to wear hers and walk around the house playing. I think part of it has to do with warmth as it is FREEZING here. Anyway, I don't know if I want to try for too much of a change at once.

It's going to be a bit before the girls are in their own rooms and I am really nervous that one of them is going to accidentally fall out of her crib. Em has actually never climbed out but she lifts herself up using her arms and hangs over the edge. (Note that I refuse to use crib tents.) The girls' cribs are of the kind that convert to a toddler bed with the removal of one side. We were thinking of doing that sooner rather than later. Sooner as in as soon as we can get our hands on three bed rails. I thought it may be too much of a change at once to go from cribs and sleepsacks to jammies and sheets and blankets.

And lastly, some photos from what I lovingly refer to as "The LP Sessions."

Image and video hosting by TinyPic

Image and video hosting by TinyPic

Image and video hosting by TinyPic

Image and video hosting by TinyPic

8 comments:

B said...

I love the LP session. Great lens. When we moved our girls to big cribs we kept all their regular stuff in them, we have an assortment of stuffed animals, bedding quilts, handmade blankets and toddler pillows. If I were you, let the girls keep their sleep sacks in their bed, if they need them on, give that a try. I was surprised, we only had two or three incidents of P falling out of her crib at night since we made the transition (C was blocked in by the other crib, they are L-shaped in their room).

Just Me said...

I moved my daughter into a big girl bed (we didn't have a toddler bed) at 18 months. She had always slept in footsie-jammies and had a blanket in her crib, so the first few nights she laid on top of the covers with that and slowly I transitioned her. She never even needed a rail and only fell out of bed once.
My son also got moved into a big boy bed at 18 months (my daughter was moved in prep for my sons arrival, he was moved because he learned to crawl out of the crib and I worried about broken bones!) He does have a collapsable gate from Wal-Mart. He was all for the covers, but that is probably because it was summer and he wants to be just like his big sis!

Drew and Emily said...

We went from a crib to a single bed with a rail. He started with one child size blanket that has now progressed to an Elmo blanket, a Bob the builder blanket, and a Thomas blanket (all child size). I didn't even try with the sheet and he wears footed sleepers most nights since he kicks off the blankets anyway.

The Beers Family said...

We just moved Alex about a month ago to the toddler bed. He sleeps in footie jammies and has his "blankie" with him. He down right refuses to use the comforter that comes with his "big boy" sheets.

We figured we would have lots of wandering about but knock wood - not yet. He was close to jumping out with one leg over which pushed the bed thing sooner than I would have liked.

He now uses his pillow and I am thinking of making him a blanket to go with his toddler bed - the twin ones are much too big but I have not made it over to JoAnn Fabric to see what they have for fleece.

We did have him "help" put his new bed together so he watched us take down the crib and we talked about the big boy bed and he was so proud of his new bed. I think if you include them in the transition it will be better.

No full rails on this toddler bed - it is close to the floor and has a small rail at the head end. Check out our blog on December 9th to the new bed.

The funny part is he comes in to "wake" us up in the morning with a huge smile and a HI!

Mamma Sol said...

My twin girls are 21 months now and we just changed into toddler beds this New Year. These beds are built with rails so I know they won't fall out. Some of the cribs that turn into toddler beds have an option of lowering, in stead of removing, the "fourth wall" of the crib. This makes for a railing tall enough to keep covers (and toddlers) in, but quite managable to climb over. Maybe yours have this feature, too? I recommend it warmly. My girls tuble out without such guards, I tried for one night and never will again(for a few years).

I have actually "weaned" them off sleep sacks in preparation for toddler beds, because I fear that they will climb anyways and the sack will hinder them and cause unneccesary stumbling and bruises. We sleep in wollen one-piece pajamas "with feet". These are super warm and cosy and helps them sleep through even though the small duvet may be squeesed into one corner of the bed.

I love Little People, too!

Good luck :)

Anonymous said...

We transtioned my daughter at 12 months into her toddler bed. Partially because we moved the weekend of her birthdy and her crib wasn't assembled yet (she slept on the mattress on the floor and partialy because she was in a home daycare that needed an extra crib. My son learned to climnb out of his crib by 23 months and we have stairs. he absolutely terrified me that he would fall down the stars. His crib also turns into a toddler bed by removing on of the sides and adding a much smaller crib rail. we also puirchasd the childproof door knobs and this has worked well. I thought he would be up and about but nope he still waits for me to go get him in the mornings. He is 2 1/2 now. He never used a sleep sack...we live in Arizona. He does wear thermal jammies and I make sure he alsways has 2 or 3 blankets on his bed. All child sized blankets.

Kristin @ Intrepid Murmurings said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Kristin @ Intrepid Murmurings said...

I have no experience with transitioning multiples (yet!) but when my eldest moved into her own bed we just put a light comforter with a cover on it, no top sheet. It was light but warm and easy to manage. The top sheet NEVER stays put and ends up tangled or on the floor any time we try.

I'll definitely be watching to see how it goes for you guys! My girls are a ways off yet (I hope!) but I fear it will be a whole different ball game this time around.

LOVE the LP shots! Cute!