Transition to a Big Girl Bed

Shortly after finding out we would be adding to our family, we put a twin bed in Peachy's room. We just told her that it was her big girl bed and left it at that. For a long time we simply used at as a vertical surface to store miscellany. After I finished the quilt, I made an effort to keep it made up nicely and to discontinue using it as a clutter keeper. We started reading books to on her big girl bed before putting her into her crib for naps and bed time. Around this time I also explained that it would be her bed and when the baby came the baby would use the crib. She started to refer to it as her "girl bed."

Reading to her friends in her "girl bed."

One day before nap she asked if she could sleep in her "girl bed." I double checked to make sure that was what she really wanted and she seemed to think so. She rocked out her usual 1.5 hour nap that day and the only casualty was the box of Kleenex on her nightstand. I asked her if she wanted to sleep in her big girl bed again that night and she did. A great night of sleep followed. This was working like a charm, I thought. Unfortunately naps have not been great since that first day. Peachy treats naptime like playtime. Exploring her room and taking things out of their respective storage places. Thankfully bedtime is quite different. As far as we know she stays in bed all night long from the moment we tuck her in. (Knock on wood it stays that way, too.)

Caught red-handed, getting into mischief at nap time.