Another Torch is Passed

Last year, a little before Christmas, Samuel gave up his place in our house as the Toddler Menace, passing that title onto his little sister Catherine.  By January, he was promoted from Menace to Assassin.  The Assassin of Sleep, specifically.  Having moved into a "big boy bed," he got out of bed, and then got me out of bed, on some pretense or other, every night for ten months.  If he did not, he was up by 5:30.  This, as you might imagine, was exhausting.

Last month, many things came together to improve this situation.  He stopped taking a nap.  The days started getting shorter; the mornings started getting darker.  For one whole week, he went to bed without incident, slept soundly through the night, and did not get out of bed until at least six, sometimes half past, and one glorious day, 7:30.  It seems my little Assassin has overcome his ways.  He is ready to get promoted again.  To what, I do not yet know.  I'll admit, I am a little anxious to see what comes next, but right now I have another problem.

Catherine.

After only one week -- one, glorious, sleep filled week -- of Samuel's new routine, Catherine learned how to climb out of her crib.  Climb out, stay out, cry to let me know she was out.  One morning at five, she came, like her brothers before her, to the side of the bed (Why is it always my side of the bed?), and said, "C'mon, Mommy.  Get up now."  Repeatedly.  "C'mon, Mommy.  Get up now.  C'mon, Mommy.  Get up now."  Then, she began pulling off the bed covers.  She grabbed the top corner and just peeled them back, leaving me no choice but to "C'mon, Mommy.  Get up now." 

This would not do.

In an effort to begin teaching her proper "big girl bed" behavior, I just embraced it.  Her crib is now converted into a toddler bed, with new bedding (an early birthday present) which she helped pick out (from the clearance rack).

So, to sum up:  The Assassin of Sleep torch has passed. Another Menace has been promoted.  And, Cate has a new bed.

Here it is, all made up, pretty and inviting.

She helped make it.

She showed Dolly how to use it.  This is a good sign, I thought.

She was thrilled to pieces to get in it.  Though it was not bed time.

She was even able to show me how she was going to "sleep" in it.

The first night, something got lost in translation.

The second night was a little better.  But, it took some work to get her to stay in there before this blissful picture could be taken.

The third night, she regressed a little.

We have quit trying to get her to stay in the bed.  All we require is that she stay in the room.  And, since she can't turn door knobs (yet) that has been pretty easy.  Most nights, she cries at her door for five minutes and then falls asleep there.  Before we go to bed, we have to squeeze our way in, scoop her up, and put her back where she belongs.  It has only been a week.  I am sure she is going to get the hang of it soon.  She is going to get the hang of it soon, right?

My next concern is what to do with her if she gets up too early in the morning, or worse, in the middle of the night.  Her father insists on opening her door before we go to bed so that "she can get out if she needs us."  Us?  Ha!  I can hear her if she needs me.  I can hear her even when she hopes I can't.  Like last night, when she got up, came into our room to look around a bit, and finding us still asleep, stole away to the kitchen, where I caught her, sitting in front of an open refrigerator, eating sour cream out of the container with a serving spoon.

Her brothers never did this and still don't.  If they get up in the middle of the night, they come to see me, no matter what.  There has never been any free range night time adventure.  Tonight, I'm keeping her door closed, before she figures out how to order pay-per-view and a pizza at two in the morning.

Meanwhile, we have to be careful not to get too distracted, lest we fail to notice what Samuel might be up to next.
 
Here's wishing you, and yours, an uninterrupted night of sleep.