Big Girl Bed – Officially

I’m putting my three year old into her official big-girl bed this weekend.

Julianna is my third baby, and we co-slept with her from the start. I co-slept with my oldest, but she started off every night in her own crib, and eventually just started sleeping thru the night in her own space. But my son had colic and reflux, and quite honestly lost his little mind when I laid him down in his crib. The third morning that I woke up after having fallen asleep in the rocking chair, I gave up and just kept him in our bed. And it worked perfectly – I love co-sleeping. He transitioned to sleeping on his own easily and is still my easiest kid to get to sleep. He falls asleep easily, anywhere, and sleeps like a rock until it’s time to wake up. Correlation isn’t necessarily the same causation, and I know that, but on some level, I completely credit co-sleeping with his ease of falling asleep and staying there.

So when Julianna was born, I didn’t even bother setting up a crib. She slept with us, and I’ve loved it. She transitioned to a toddler bed when she was, you know, a toddler. At first I set it up in our bedroom, and then moved it into her big sister’s room. And that’s been working well, it took up relatively little space in her big sister’s domain. Jessie’s had her own room for ten years, so sharing it was a big step.

So we took it slowly. Small steps, at first. A toddler bed, in the corner. Gradually, we started referring to the room as the “girls” room instead of just Jessie’s room.

We’ve got bunk beds in Jessica’s bedroom (see, sometimes I still call it “Jessie’s room”), but the top bunk has been mainly a storage spot for stuffed animals, extra blankets, and an available bed for when a friend or stepdaughter sleeps over. Jessie discovered that she liked sleeping up there. It’s a spot where she can go, and nobody else (i.e. eager baby sisters) can climb up and disturb her.

As part of our “wouldn’t it be fun to completely rip apart the whole house in the name of getting ready for Passover” spring cleaning frenzy, we’re going to move all the baby dolls and stuffed animals into the girls’ room (I’m getting better at it). We’re going to move out the toddler bed, and set up the bottom bunk as Julianna’s big girl bed.

Moving slowly was great for the girls, because it gave them time to get used to the idea of sharing a room. But it also gave me time to get used to it as well.