The Princess Sleeps Here

Many of you know that we've been working on Christine's transition to her new bedroom and new bed for quite some time (we "gave" her her new room for her birthday, Dec 23rd). She took to being in the new room in about a week or two, but sleeping in her bed was another matter altogether. She would be happy to lay there with us to read books and sing songs (with me, not Trevor, of course) and say good night. We would barely make it to the bottom of the stairs after saying our good nights that she would be crawling out of bed, turning on her music and laying in the doorway, right in front of the baby gate we had at the door. It was a rare occasion when she would cry. She was typically very happy to just lay there talking and singing to herself until she decided to fall asleep - on the floor.

After a couple of weeks of this, while trying everything under the sun to get her to like her new bed more (tried different teddy bears, all sorts of arrangements of so many pillows, with a bedrail and without, with and without a box spring, etc.), we just decided that it was ok that she sleep on the floor. While we won the battle of not sleeping in the crib, she won the battle of sleeping on the floor. I did start putting her back in her bed when I went to bed. For about a week or so, we'd still find her on the floor in the morning, but then she started to spend the rest of the night in bed. This went on for about 3 months...

About 2 weeks ago, Christine stayed in her bed from the moment we put her in until the morning when we went to get her. We celebrated! Then, it happened again, and again, and again... In the last 2 weeks, there was only one night when I had to put her back in bed - at least at night time. Her naps are still about 70-30 bed to floor, but that too will come.

What made the difference? Who knows... Perhaps she's now accepted and is happy that someone else is using her crib. Perhaps it's having her own babies with her in bed. Perhaps it's the new little fairy pillow that she got from ma tante Pierrette. With all the stuff in there, it must be way less comfortable than when we first started... perhaps that was the problem... :)