Toddler Bed Success

I have been dreading the move from crib to toddler bed for many reasons. First, I like the security I feel knowing my daughter is in a contained safe space while I sleep. I don't want to worry about her wondering the house unsupervised and possibly being injured. Second, transitions with toddlers are tough. Pacifier situation case in point. I was dreading the toddler waking in the middle of the night several times and having to put her back over and over again. I was picturing sleepless nights and a tired mama and baby. Thirdly, she has been throwing tantrums for all sleep times and was so angry on Friday for nap time she actually flung herself right out of her crib. I wanted to solve our sleep problems first before moving to a toddler bed. Lastly, I did not want to say goodbye to my baby. Lets face it, she is potty trained, no longer uses pacifiers or bottles, needs her food cut up, or to be rocked to sleep. She is well on her way to being a little girl. Illogically, keeping her in a crib allows me to still feel like she is my baby.

Despite my reasons, Madi had another agenda. We were about to have Blizzard Nemo hit us in full force with up to 3 feet of snow and there was a good chance we were going to lose power. No power means no heat. Our basement retains heat the best so we thought we would have a family camp out just in case rather than wake up freezing and relocating in the middle of the night. We blew up air mattresses and set up Madi's pack n play. I tried to put Madi in her pack n play and she freaked out, "I don't want a crib. Get me out. Put me on the ground." I asked her if she wanted to sleep on the ground and she said yes. I did not believe for a second she would sleep there. I gave her a pillow and a blanket and laid her down. No tears went right to sleep and to my amazement only woke up to get on the couch and go back to sleep there. This was a head scratcher. Could all these night time fits be because she didn't want to be sleeping in her crib?

The next morning we converted her crib to it's toddler/day bed state and when nap time came around her face lit up and her smile was so big. She was so happy to have a big girl bed. She climbed right in and went to sleep and took a 2 hour nap. That night same thing; climbed right in. She woke up once because she fell out (she was fine I put pillows on the floor). She went back to sleep no problem. Today nap time, climbed right in again. Same for bed time. I guess she was just ready and because I didn't want her to be ready I didn't see it. I am so proud of her and so sad at the same time. I wasn't supposed to be without a baby this quickly. :( Despite that, the quiet nights and easy nap times are well worth it. I wish everyone this same kind of success when transferring their toddler to a big girl bed.