Sunday, June 05, 2011

Big Girl Bed

This week we said "goodbye" to our crib and hello to a big girl bed for Ella! I wasn't planning on making the switch just yet, but since we had the bed down from the attic, I thought I'd see how she did during nap time.

My kids are proof that you can have two children who are as different as night and day. That first nap in her big girl bed, we read a few books, sang a song, and said, "goodnight!" Elijah and Ella share an adjoining door, so she peeked into his room once while I was putting him down, but I told her she needed to stay in her bed, and guess what? SHE DID.

Elijah was out of his bed easily 10+ times the first day we made the switch (and every night after that for weeks). Ella's on her 4th night in a big girl bed, and she's doing great. Ahhh. What a relief!

It felt great to disassemble our old crib and put it on the curb. It was such a blessing to us for the 3 years we have had it. Someone left it behind in a friends rental property and gave it to us right before Elijah was born. I had painted it white, and it safely confined my two kids for the past 3 years, without rest in between!

But, sadly, it was beginning to feel "unsafe." It was one of the many cribs in the massive crib recall. We pushed the drop side against the wall, and felt pretty safe since Ella is almost 2, but I didn't feel comfortable putting a new baby in it.

Thankfully, we were once again blessed by a friend with another beautiful crib! I sort of wish we wouldn't have set it up just yet, so we could be "crib free" for a bit. But my nesting instincts and my desire to have things prepared for baby this time around won out :)

I can't believe Ella isn't going to be the "baby" anymore. She still seems so young! Her 2nd birthday is right around the corner. By the time Elijah was this age, he had a 6 month old sister!

Elijah seems so grown up now. I need to remember to give him more one on one time. He loves to play, and has become very independent in doing so. I used to have to entertain him ALL the time, but lately he just plays quietly by himself. As nice as it is, it's easy for me to forget to spend some time with him.

He's my chatterbox. So much so that Ella hardly tries to say anything. She's learning she not only has an opinion, but can express it too. My favorite word Ella says is, "Yes." She actually said, "yeah" before learning to say, "no." Backwards for most kids. I never complained, she said "yeah" and meant it! She just recently learned to say "no" and says it in such a cute way. But "Yes" is by far the cutest. She pronounces it, "Yesh." I can tell her "Ella, you need to stay in your bed. Say, Yes Momma!" and she will reply, "yesh." It's adorable.

Well, I think I should get off the computer and get to bed. My kids have been early risers lately, which makes for a tired momma!

1 comment:

Erin said...

Hey Kelly! Did you get my text? Congrats on the big girl bed!!! How are you doing these days?