I love sleep. I would sleep in late and take multiple naps throughout the day, if I had my way. However, I don’t enjoy that luxury. I’m the mother of a toddler.
When my daughter was a baby, we could put her in her crib at any time and she’d flop over on her tummy, clutch her blanket, and put her two middle fingers in her mouth. I’d turn on her CD player with lullabies or stories and make her Twilight Turtle shine its stars on the ceiling. She would fall asleep with no problems. We were so fortunate. My daughter took two naps until well after turning two, but then the time came that one nap was one nap too many.
Then, the precursor of naughtiness to come: she started climbing into her crib. Oh no! We knew it wouldn’t be long before she was climbing out. We filmed her acrobatics climbing both in and out. She knew, however, that bedtime was bedtime and that she wasn’t allowed to get out of bed until I came in to get her.
That didn’t last long. She eventually decided that sleeping was all up to her and she could decide that she did not want to be in her crib. We opted to skip the toddler bed and move straight to a twin size. I took her shopping for her bedding so she’d have ownership and sleep on what makes her happy. She chose Hello Kitty over Disney Princesses. We moved her CD player into her new room and she has a new Twilight Ladybug to shine stars on the ceiling.
We took expert advice about making a big deal of her big girl bed. We tried to make her feel like this was a rite of passage and she was ready. She loves her bed and Hello Kitty. She says “night-night” to it all the time. Now, if we could just get her to stay in bed, she might go back to being a great sleeper.