Happy Bed Day!

February 29 was an extra day for us all, but a very special day for Lea. It was touted all week long by mom and dad as "Bed Day!" TaDa! The day that Lea moved into a big girl bed. For us it was just removing the rails on the crib.
Off come the rails.


In climbs the big girl.



We celebrated Bed Day the way all things should be celebrated... WITH CAKE! Lea asked for pink cake, so we made a strawberry cake and put a fruit roll-up on as a blanket with some marshmallow pillows.

It wasn't quite as beautiful as I imagined it would be, but it got the family's approval!


Bed Day was perhaps a bigger moment for Mommy than for Lea I think. I kept saying it was the last remnant of her being a baby, and Marlena at work said "Oh so she's potty trained?" It took someone without children to point out the obvious that I was overlooking... I cherish the sweet baby bits (rocking and reading stories, putting her to bed, the tiny little socks... the cute stuff) but the unpleasant baby bits (diapers) just get over looked by my sentimental eye.



But Lea and I have both adjusted to the change very well. There were a few bumps to work out, quite literally. Lea fell out of bed twice. The first night I was already asleep, but Dan heard a THUMP. He went to check on her and she had rolled on to the rug we placed to soften just such a blow. He said she didn't really wake up and didn't cry, but had the "cry face." He put her back into bed and she slept through the night. Until the morning when I was awakened to "Mommy, I rolled out of bed." I went and check and she was out of bed, no worse for wear. She has not, to our knowledge, rolled out of bed since the first night. She has however gotten into a habit of waking up at 3am to tell me things like "I want to listen to Elmo" or "I need a drink of water." She got the drink of water, but not the Elmo. Last night was the first of 5 nights that she slept all the way through in her bed. She has gotten comfortable getting out of bed to tell us she's awake. The first two nights she stayed in bed and waited for us to get her, but then I woke on the third day to the patter of little feet in the hall. My mommy sense dulled by sleep deprivation and the forth morning I was awakened by a warm little face in mine, "Mommy I'm awake." "Yes, sweetie, I see that, lets go sleep through ... I mean watch Strawberry Shortcake on the couch."

So Lea now sleeps in a big girl bed. She is very excited about it still. Almost a week later she is still excited. She couldn't wait to show Grandma her new bed.

Story time has been cut down to only two stories, from four, and Lea eliminated the rocking chair. I will miss that. I loved holding her and rocking, but in truth story time could drag on, because as we all know (and Lea will tell you in as many words) Mommy is a sucker. So with the excitment of the big girl bed came "Mommy sit in my big girl bed." So I sit in her big girl bed, read two stories (plus a small book like Boynton's Going to Bed Book and/or Wiskerville School for Mice... see I told you I was a sucker). But in the empty space the rocking and reading stories has left, a REAL good night kiss on her forehead all tucked into bed has taken its place to keep Mommy's heart warm.

Below are 4 movies that should play consecutively chronicling the removal of the rails.