Prison Break

We decided to move Emma to a big girl bed in preparation for the baby coming. I thought she would love her new freedom outside of her crib. It turns out her aversion to change is stronger than her need for freedom.

Sunday: Her first night in a big girl bed. It took her two minutes to get out of bed and come down and find us. We had naively believed that our telling her to stay in bed would work. Aaron took her up to her room, had a talk and she didn't come down again. I thought that for sure it would be smooth sailing from here on out because obviously she understood that she was supposed to stay in bed.

Monday: I was exhausted and needed a nap myself. I decided to close the gate upstairs and hope that she would stay in her bed and I could nap. About 40 minutes into her nap I hear her shaking the gate. At least that is when it woke me up from my nap - who knows how long she had been out of bed. I put her back in bed a couple of times and fell back asleep myself. When I got up from my nap she wasn't in her room. She was in her crib. I have no idea how she got in there. She wasn't napping, just playing with all of her toys. I was shocked. I thought for sure she would be playing with toys in the game room, water in the sink, anything but in her crib. She also solved a mystery for me. One time I got her up from naps and her underwear was underneath her pull ups. (She likes to put her underwear on over her pull ups at nap and bed time.) I was tired that day so I just figured that I did it. When I got her in her crib this day however, she was busy putting her panties on underneath her pull ups. At least I could check one mystery off my list.

Tuesday: I had put one of those child proof things on Emma's door knob so she couldn't get out in the morning. I also shut the gate just in case. This morning Emma greeted me at the gate with the door knob cover in two pieces in her hand. This time during nap time she played with the night light and shocked herself. We had a discussion about how lights hurt. I thought she learned her lesson.... there is a theme her in case it wasn't obvious. I think she has learned a concept.... and she hasn't.

Wednesday: Emma found the bar in her closet that you hang cloths on. She got it out and was wielding it around like a ninja. I took it away. She was jumping off her bed, getting out of her room, playing with the night light that shocked her yesterday. You name it. I was exhausted by the time nap time was over. As soon as I got her up from "naps" we took a trip to Home Depot. I bought a new bedroom door lock for her door. Aaron installed it that night with the lock on the outside. It felt like Christmas had come early. I giggled all the way down the stairs after putting her to bed. The other thing Emma figured out was that she could climb up on the window seal next to the front door and undo the deadbolts of the front door. I didn't like it but wasn't worried until she was doing it while I was blow drying my hair. When I found her she was talking about going to find her friend Adi. She never had a plan before to go with undoing the deadbolt. So we got a top lock for the front and back door.

Thursday: There was much weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth when Emma figured out that she was now locked in her bedroom. Two hours worth to be exact. So no naps as of day four.

Friday: Emma kept jumping off the bed so I told her that I would take away a toy if she jumped off the bed again. I took away Thing One. You would have thought I had beaten her by the way she was crying. She wasn't really all that attached to Thing One until that point but since this incident she has guarded Thing One pretty closely. She finally napped after I gave her Thing One back.

So far, out of 8 days, she has napped once. This big girl bed seems to be not helping her sleep schedule. Hopefully she adapts soon. Occasionally she still asks to go in her crib. Hopefully that wears off too before this baby needs to go in there.