Day 1 of the work week: As expected, Wendell has now figured out that his new "big boy" bed has a lot of new freedoms that come with it. Yesterday, I started the nap time process around 12pm, right after lunch. The first half hour he played in his room but was very quiet so I wasn't sure if he had fallen asleep, until he came downstairs and informs me that he had pooped (which he did) so I changed his diaper and made him lay down again. This time, I decide to lay down with him to make sure he stays in bed. With my face right up by his, he finds pleasure in pulling up my eyelid's one at a time so my eyes open up. (Note: this was very cute and funny but not really done at the appropriate time so I quickly tell him "no".) Then after a few minutes of not listening to my "no", I decided to lay in the hallway (on some blankets that needed to put away) while he lies in bed. Little munchkin then starts poking up his head at me and looking to see if I'm looking his way, eventually trying to sneak his way out of bed. After a few minutes of laying on the floor, my pregnant body says it can't take it much longer and and I give up with this tactic. So I then decided to go get my book so I can read sitting on the floor while he's laying in bed but shortly later my pregnant body says -no go- and I'm forced to find a more comfortable position. At this point, I think I decided to give him another shot at staying in bed (as I'm not finding a comfortable position to lie in) so I leave him a lone for a bit to see if he settles down. Did I mention that all this was going on while I was busily distracted with writing my longest blog post from yesterday? So the second time he comes out of his room without my permission, I decided to put up the baby gate in his room with him inside. He cried for a few minutes and then was quiet again.. hmm, could he be asleep?? Heck no, that boy played all afternoon in his room. Finally at 3pm, he decides he's going to try and climb over the baby gate and falls, causing some tears to flow so I think at that point I gave up. (Mainly because we had to leave at 4pm so no more time for a nap). Hmm.. I will need to think of another game plan for tomorrow.
Day 2 of the work week: Interesting change of events. I had a meeting today from 12-1:30 so Phil came home on lunch and he was the lucky one to put Wendell down for his nap. Now, this should be interesting. Will Wendell listen to Phil?.... maybe tomorrow but not today. Phil says that within minutes Wendell was coming downstairs, I'm sure with the intention of skipping the nap entirely. So Phil takes him upstairs and puts up the baby gate... then I come home around 1:30pm from my meeting and Phil leaves. Wendell had been fairly quiet again (sneaky little twerp!) and at about 3pm I hear him trying to climb the baby gate again, and another thud and crying. So being the good mom I am, I go up and check on him. First he announces that he's poopy (which his is) so I changed him diaper and then promptly made him lay down again. Soon, it will be getting too late for a nap but I'm not giving up yet! I have him lay his little head down at the top of the bed and I slink down towards the bottom of the bed and position the comforter so he can't really see me at a glance yet knows I'm there. Note: this is MUCH more comfortable then the floor I sat on yesterday. Within minutes, my munchkin is a sleep.. but the story doesn't end here. I try to slink downstairs when I think he's asleep but I'm not as good as Wendell because the steps creak and I hear crying again meaning it woke him up. So I grabbed my book, layed down in the same position and read for awhile. Luckily, he fell sleep within minutes again. Once he was snoring, I thought I could make my break.. and I did successfully! So, Wendell is currently asleep, in his bed!
We'll see what Day 3 brings, with one success, I have another game plan for tomorrow!
Hope you've enjoyed... let me know how you're experiences have gone with changing from a crib over to a toddler/big bed, and if you have any words of wisdom cause I'm sure the battle isn't over yet.
2 comments:
When we changed Kate to a big bed it took her a few months to figure out she could get out and play whenever she wanted...but she was only 18 months at the time. When things finally clicked for her she would immediately open her door. I would be standing on the other side and silently pick her up and place her back into bed. I had to do this about 8 or 9 times but she finally gave in and went to sleep. I learned this from Super Nanny and it worked great for me. Good luck!
Sounds like things are going about as well as you thought they would. :op I don't remember a whole lot about when we switched Emily over (fuzzy mommy brain), but I know I did something similar to Sarah on several occassions. I either stood just inside or just outside the door and silently picked her up and placed her back in bed every time she got out. I know it took 13 trips in like 30 minutes one night. Since then Emily has gone through different phases of cooperation. I finally compromised with myself and settled for just having her stay in her room. She will often play for up to 2 hours before finally going to sleep at night, but as long as she stays in her room I don't care.
I haven't really had to deal with the nap issue a lot since Emily stopped napping not too long after we switched over. Maybe that was part of the problem. Anyway--good luck the rest of this week!
Post a Comment