Toddler Bed; Night 1.

Caroline has been having some, um, what's a nice say to say this?, "issues" when it comes to bed time. She has been tossing and turning, thrashing and wailing, and staying up much too late.

Keep in mind, this child used to lay down when she was still fairly awake and alert, and she would put herself to sleep by talking to herself or by playing the music in her crib. This bed time problem has just developed over the past 3 weeks or so. I have taken a couple steps to try to correct some of the issues:

Attempt 1: I rocked her until she fell asleep, then put her in her crib. This didn't work because she was waking up just before I would put her in her crib, and then be up for another hour-and-a-half or two hours.

Attempt 2: We turned the crib around so the highest part of the crib was facing out into the room, and Barry modified an addition to the side rail to make it much higher. This didn't work because the first night she was in there, she got out within 2 minutes!

Last night was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. About 4:45 this morning, I woke up to Caroline shrieking. This is unusual, so I jumped up and ran into her room to check on her. She wasn't in her bed. I ran downstairs, and I couldn't find her. Thinking she must have been hiding in her room, I ran back upstairs, and I still couldn't find her. Thankfully, she started calling, "Mama" at this point, and I found her sitting in our leather recliner downstairs. I have no idea how long she had been down there.

I finally gave in and converted her crib into a toddler bed. I "babyproofed" her room and took everything out except her bed, her rocker, and her dresser. I put a door knob cover on the inside of her door, so that she can't get out.

I talked to her about her new "big girl" bed and she was excited. Going down tonight was no problem. She fell asleep on my lap, and she stayed asleep when I put her in her bed. Just as I was sitting down to check my e-mail, etc., I heard a funny noise. I thought she was pulling on the door, so I ran upstairs to check on her. I opened her door and discovered that she had fallen out of bed. So, I picked her up, and put her back in her bed, patted her back briefly, and told her it was time to go back to sleep.

It's not working out so well; she's up there screaming now. So, send up a little prayer for me that this transition only takes a few nights, and that things will start to get easier...at least a little!