It's coming...HELP!
Trey is a little over 26 months old. He is still sleeping in his crib, but won't be much longer. The short little legs he inherited from me have grown.
Trey first started trying to climb out of his crib at the end of July, but could only get his ankle over the rail. He can now get his knee over, and if he knew enough to lean one way or use his stuffed animals for leverage, he'd be out. Hurt, maybe, but out nonetheless.
So it's time to move to a toddler bed. This is absolutely monumental and, frankly, horrifying. That crib is like my right hand.
Trey is an extremely active child, and does not spend much time in any day being still. Because he is too big for me to rock, the only way I can get him to take a nap is to put him in his crib with a few books and stuffed animals, and hope against hope that he'll wind down enough to go to sleep within an hour, which is the longest I will leave him there.
Most of the time it takes the entire hour, and typically the first 45 minutes or so of that time is spent jumping, singing, dancing, or shouting, "Mama?! Where are you??!!"
And often, crib time does not lead to nap time. Trey is a stubborn kid to begin with, and he is good at fighting sleep. We're now averaging about two days per week without a nap. Which makes for an angry, whiny boy by dinnertime.
I know that Trey is too young to give up napping. Especially since he only sleeps about nine hours at night. But I am so afraid that when the crib goes, so will the naps. Because I know of no other way to get him to wind down and be still.
What do I do? This is not a rhetorical question to disappear into the blogosphere. Please, you moms who have been through this before, what do I do??
(And just in case you're going to tell me to reason with him, reasoning doesn't work. Trey doesn't care to reason when he's not going to get what he wants.)
Trey first started trying to climb out of his crib at the end of July, but could only get his ankle over the rail. He can now get his knee over, and if he knew enough to lean one way or use his stuffed animals for leverage, he'd be out. Hurt, maybe, but out nonetheless.
So it's time to move to a toddler bed. This is absolutely monumental and, frankly, horrifying. That crib is like my right hand.
Trey is an extremely active child, and does not spend much time in any day being still. Because he is too big for me to rock, the only way I can get him to take a nap is to put him in his crib with a few books and stuffed animals, and hope against hope that he'll wind down enough to go to sleep within an hour, which is the longest I will leave him there.
Most of the time it takes the entire hour, and typically the first 45 minutes or so of that time is spent jumping, singing, dancing, or shouting, "Mama?! Where are you??!!"
And often, crib time does not lead to nap time. Trey is a stubborn kid to begin with, and he is good at fighting sleep. We're now averaging about two days per week without a nap. Which makes for an angry, whiny boy by dinnertime.
I know that Trey is too young to give up napping. Especially since he only sleeps about nine hours at night. But I am so afraid that when the crib goes, so will the naps. Because I know of no other way to get him to wind down and be still.
What do I do? This is not a rhetorical question to disappear into the blogosphere. Please, you moms who have been through this before, what do I do??
(And just in case you're going to tell me to reason with him, reasoning doesn't work. Trey doesn't care to reason when he's not going to get what he wants.)
Comments
~ Stephanie (Tiffany's friend from VT)
I worried about switching to a toddler bed, but it ended up being a non-issue. I'll pray for an easy transition for y'all!