Last Saturday my almost two year-old baby girl graduated from her crib to a brand new "big girl bed." She'd been bored and tired of her crib for the past month, and after a successful sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa's house the night before (sans crib) we decided it was time for her to make the leap.
This week has had its ups and downs as she's learned to deal with the freedom of being able to get in and out of bed - and the access to toys and other items of interest that this freedom affords.
Of course, this conflict is not unlike that which we experienced with her big brother... Many times we had to intervene while he was assembling his army of stuffed animals atop his bed - and crowding himself out of a sleeping space.
Tonight, I had to scold her a bit because she just wouldn't settle down. She kept getting out of bed, playing with her toys, and refusing to relax and fall asleep.
My reproof had the desired effect, and shortly thereafter I found her peacefully asleep in her bed.
Surveying her room, I laughed to myself as I saw what activities she'd engaged in while avoiding sleep: toys strewn about the floor, a little chair pushed up against her dresser to reach the out-of-reach items on top.
Most interesting to me was her tiny box of "pretties" - plastic jewelry - spread out across her bed. It was just interesting to me to see the difference between the items that wound up on top of our little girl's bed, as opposed to the sorts of things we'd so often seen on top of her brother's bed before.
Bed time can be an extremely frustrating time - I often feel more like a prison warden than a loving parent - but little revelations like these are always welcome surprises, and help me to let go of the frustration. And it really is a lot of fun to be a spectator in the adventures of children.
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