Day 1 in her big girl bed

I was prepared for Astrid coming into our room this morning as soon as she woke up in her big girl bed. But nope. It was more of the same...calling for us as soon as she woke up. "Mama!" Guess it's a force of habit.

My response? "Astrid go back to bed!" It was 5 AM. That's early for us and her. She normally sleeps in until 6. And she did go back to sleep for like 30 minutes and then she was up again. Since our bedrooms are right next to each other, we can hear one another so when she started calling for me again I shouted back, "Come to Mama's room! Bring your blanket." That was U.'s turn to get up and go to the couch to get some much needed sleep. I was hoping she'd sleep with me for a bit, but after a few minutes she got up and went into the other room to bug U. (who is a morning person).

When she went back into her bedroom later in the morning she looked at her bed and exclaimed that it was "beautiful!" U. and I are both happy that she likes her new bedroom set. U. finished putting together the wardrobe cabinets and drawers this afternoon.

For today's nap, she wanted to sleep in mama and papa's bed - which has become a habit on weekends. (Today we're off for the Memorial Day holiday). But since we just purchased and assembled her new bed yesterday, we want her to get into the habit of sleeping in her own bed. She was having none of it, and wanted to sleep with me, so I crawled up there with her and fell asleep. Half an hour later, after reading several books to herself and seeing mom (me) crashed out, Astrid fell asleep next to me. I snuck out as quietly as I could, but about 30 minutes later U. got up and started walking around, making noise, and our dog started barking, so she woke up.

Then this evening she was beat. We were out late shopping and then it took awhile for me to finish cooking dinner. So it was a breeze putting her to sleep for the night. She wanted to play a little bit, but after my routine of bedtime songs, she quickly fell asleep.

We'll see how tomorrow morning will shape up. I hope she sleeps in until 6. Or if she doesn't, to come into our room and sleep a little bit longer curled up beside me. That would be nice. I'm looking forward to not having to jump outta bed every morning once the calling starts - now that she can get in and out of her big girl bed on her own.

No more crib (Astrid's first big girl bed)

Spring cleaning came early yesterday. We got out trash bags and started sorting through all of Astrid's toys - putting the toys she no longer plays with into the bags (5 bags total), and putting keepers into storage bins. Then U. disassembled Astrid's crib, and took it and the changing table down to the garage.

It's been a long time coming - getting rid of the crib - and switching to a child's bed for Astrid. But yesterday, being the long holiday weekend, it was a good a time as any to get her room cleaned up and organized - and make room for new bedroom furniture.

Plus lately, Astrid has been wanting to sleep in our bed. "I no want to sleep in my crib," she would plead with us, giving us her best 3 year old sad face. And on the weekend she slept over at her Godmother's house she was so excited to be sleeping on the pull out sleeper - aka the big girl bed - that she actually asked to put on her pajamas.

This morning in the initial first wake up fog, Astrid went to her bedroom to put her blanket in her crib, as is the normal morning routine, but then found her crib was missing. When U. reminded her that her crib was in the garage she laughed and said, "Oh yeah. I forget."

So we made a trip to Ikea and picked out a cute bunk bed type bed, with only the one bed on the top, a 3 rung ladder, and a play space underneath. It has side railings to keep her from falling out, and we also purchased a cute canopy (blue with polka dots) that attaches from one side rail to the other and reminds me of covered wagons. She loves it.

It took U. 3 hours to put it all together. When I saw all the pieces I thought to myself "eee gads this looks complicated!" He did so while Astrid and I took a nap together. As soon as Astrid woke up she went into her room and asked her dad, "Whatcha doin? My bed all done?" and then nonchalantly mentioned that she had to go poop. (Which is her way of saying he needs to come wipe her.)

With the crib, after reading to her and singing to her, I would say goodnight, or if she was asleep, I'd quietly leave and close the door behind me. But with a bed, she can refuse to go to sleep, and easily get out herself. I was worried about that tonight when I put her to bed, so I crawled up there with her. I laid under what she calls the tunnel - we read a few books and then I sang to her. The whole process took 1.5 hours and she was still not asleep. She was wide awake and telling me she did not want to go to sleep, that she wanted to sleep with me. The whole point of getting the bed was to put the kibosh on sleeping in our bed which was becoming a habit. So I reminded her she was a big girl now, sleeping in her own special big girl bed, and that she needed to get some sleep to be well rested for tomorrow - and then said goodnight. As I closed the door I could hear her start crying and I stayed in front of the door for awhile to see if she would come out. Nope - she went back to sleep. Relief!

So she's soundly sleeping in her first bed. Another milestone.

It will be interesting to see what happens tomorrow morning. Will she crawl out of bed on her own and come into our bedroom? Instead of calling for mama and papa from her crib? Gosh she's not a baby anymore.

My little helper

Today Astrid's preschool teacher, Ms. Fathima patted Astrid on the head and said, "you're such a good girl and you're always helping your friends." She went on to tell me that Astrid always tries to the help the other children. Whenever one of the other kids needs help, Astrid is right there to assist. That's my girl. =)

Support Group at preschool

I had an early morning webinar with a client on the east coast, so U. took Astrid to preschool this morning. When he got there, she was clingy and grabbed onto him like a monkey and would not let him go. She had been like this with me the day before - so I had forewarned U. U's not used to dealing with this behavior since it's almost always directed at me - Mommy can't ever leave. (Us mom's know the feeling.) So it was a unique experience for U. to experience this first hand - directed at him.

It's tough. Not just emotionally because of course we don't want to leave, but we have to go to work. Dilemma. So what do you do when you hug and kiss your kid and reassure them that you will be back to pick them up after school - and try to get them interested in other things...playing with the other kids, etc. and nothing works?

Today U. said after a few minutes a couple little girls saw what was happening and went up to Astrid and hugged her. He said it was really sweet to watch and was nice to see she has a support group.

Like a broken record

We had to take my car in to be serviced for a faulty window. One day it decided to go down and refused to come back up again.

For whatever reason Astrid asks me constantly what happened to my car and "Why you take it to fix it?"

It got to the point where I'm sick of repeating myself. No matter how many times I explained to her what happened, she would immediately ask me again, as if she wasn't hearing me, but just likes to hear me repeat myself over and over again.

So tonight the conversation went like this:

Astrid: "Mom? Why you fix you car?"
Me: "Astrid, I already told you 10 times in the last hour. You know why."
Astrid: "It broken?"
Me: "Yes, but I don't want to talk about it anymore tonight. Okay?"
Astrid: "Oh, okay"
Me: A sigh of relief escapes me thinking I've finally got her off the subject.
Astrid: "Mom, I want to talk to you. I want to talk a little bit."
Me: "Okay what do you want to talk about?"
Astrid: "Um...I want...I want...I want to talk about your car."

Whatcha gonna do? I just had to laugh out loud. And in the end Astrid and I were both laughing about it. Kids!