Lyla's Big Girl Room

The past few months have meant transition after transition for Lyla as we've been working to get her adjusted to being a "big girl" before the arrival of her little brother.  The last (I hope!) change that needed to be made was getting Lyla out of her crib and in to a full-size bed.  Because we are planning on using the crib again so soon, it made more sense for us to move Lyla in to a completely different room and leave her crib and corresponding furniture in the original room for the baby.  Dustin and Sherie painted a beautiful design on one of the wall's to complement Lyla's new comforter.

Lyla started off being so excited about her grown-up "big girl" room.  She loved to sit on her bed and talk about her new Hello Kitty sheets, as well as perusing her library of books and sitting in her small recliner to "read" them.  When the time came to start sleeping in the room, Lyla was a little less than thrilled.  I took my mom's wise advice to start out just making Lyla take her naps on the bed, and let her still sleep in her crib at night.  Dustin and I found an app for the iPhone that is an alarm clock for young children that can't tell time that uses pictures to help them know when they need to stay in the bed and when they can get up - it's worked out great and Lyla understands the concept completely.  I was fully anticipating having trouble getting Lyla to stay on her bed, but we haven't had any problems at all!  She will sometimes cry for a few minutes, but she always stays on her bed and always gets herself to sleep.  We think she must like her bed a lot better and find it more comfortable, because she's actually sleeping more there than she had before in her crib!

A few weeks ago Dustin wanted Lyla to try sleeping through the night in her bed.  I was hesitant, since Dustin was going to be out of town the following week leaving me to deal with any drama should it happen. She cried for a few minutes, but then we didn't hear from her again the rest of the night.  The next morning, Dustin went in to wake her up because we had to get going somewhere.  I then hear a panicked Dustin yelling, "Where is she?!  She isn't in here!"  I run in the room at the same time Lyla starts screaming.  Turns out Lyla thought it was more comfortable to sleep completely UNDER her bed.  It was really sad, as Dustin had the horrible split-second of thinking someone took Lyla somehow, and Lyla thought we lost her.  She kept telling me "Daddy lost me.  He couldn't find me."  It was terrible.  I told Dustin he HAD to put up a guardrail on the side of her bed, because to hear Lyla tell it, she fell out of bed and it was too dark and she couldn't figure out how to climb back in her bed again.  He put the guardrail up and we've had no problems since.  I thought she'd be traumatized after that event, but with a little tough love from Dustin and I, she got right back on the horse (or in this case, bed) and has been sleeping like a champ ever since.

We continue to be so impressed by how mature out little girl is becoming and I am so incredible grateful for a child who has made this second pregnancy as easy as humanly possible by going with the flow and adapting to changes like a champ.  I will admit, I feel a tad bit emotional by all the transitioning we've put Lyla through, but I know it's just part of her growing up.  I am hoping that aside from adjusting to becoming a big sister in another month or two, Lyla will have no more changes I have to put her through in the foreseeable future!