Toddler Bed Transition - Part One

Last night, we waved goodbye to our baby beds and said hello to our big girl beds. There's no time like the present right? I read somewhere last night that as a mother, if you start to wonder if it's the right time to make a change or introduce something new, it's probably the right time. And so, even though at 6am I was convinced I'd buy two big cribs on Craigslist in the morning and keep the girls in them until they turned five, I know I need to stick to our transition. Consistency and praise are the cornerstones of motherhood! No waffling about. If you're wondering why I need to make this transition now, it's because I bought mini cribs for the girls, which are much shorter than standard size cribs, as we found out we were having twins while living in our one-bedroom apartment and there was no way we could fit two standard size cribs in it. So the downside is that they grew out of them before age 2. And here we are, making the transition to cribs at 19 months.

Here's the girls playing on their brand new beds before bath time. They were really excited about them!

So here's what happened: I put all their toys and books away in the closet and locked the closet doors, and secured a baby gate across the door to their room. I nursed them and put them down at 7 like usual. Since we're potty training Lena, she told me she had to go potty as soon as I put her in her bed so I took her back out to the bathroom and put her on the potty. Carmen came to the gate and cried while I was with Lena (Orlando was in the shower after biking home so I was by myself for a bit) but I had to wait for Lena to finish. When she did, I took her back to the room and said "It's bedtime" and led them both back to their beds and tucked them in. They were both crying. I left the room and they both came to the gate right away crying. I led them back to their beds saying "It's bedtime", tucked them in and kissed them goodnight. They came back to the gate, crying. Every time, I let them cry for a couple minutes, then led them back to their beds. I stopped saying goodnight or talking to them, just gently tucking them in over and over. This went on for half an hour. It started getting darker, and they were getting more tired and cranky so I stayed in their room, sat between their two beds and rubbed their backs while they calmed down. They continually looked up to ensure I was still with them. After another half hour, they had calmed down. I left the room and went downstairs. Five minutes later, they had both come to the gate crying. Orlando went up and they got back in their beds by themselves. He tucked them in. That went on for about half an hour more. By this time it was eight thirty. We decided the next time they came to the gate, we'd leave them for a bit longer and after about ten minutes they went quiet.

At nine, I walked past their room and heard Carmen say "HI!" and I bolted up to my room. Quiet for another hour as I had a bath. I went in before bed to see where they were. Carmen was in her bed but I couldn't find Lena! Finally I found her in a pile on the floor, snoring, with her head under Carmen's bed! I put her back in bed, covered them up and didn't hear from them until 6am.

Now this is not something I want to admit. It's a guarded secret that I don't like to tell anyone. Carmen and Lena go to bed at 7pm and usually sleep until 8 or 9. This is one of the reasons I was SO reluctant to make the transition to toddler beds. I was petrified of losing this luxury. So at 6, I heard Lena come to the gate and call for us, cry a little, and then to my horror, I heard her go over and try to wake up "Dodo" (sister). For the next half hour I heard them on and off, and I had such anxiety worrying about waking up at 6 every day now... and this is when I became determined to buy two cheap cribs off Craigslist and keep them in those until kindergarten. But after a bit, all was silent and we fell back asleep. They woke up at a normal time, 8:18 (for some reason this exact time is often when we get up). I went downstairs and they were both standing in their reading nook, happy.

So that's the first night. Success? I'm not sure. It's 10am and I'm already worried about today's nap-time. I think I'll start early. Breathe in, breathe out. I am patient and loving. I will not lose my cool. Repeat.