Big Girl Bed

Over the weekend, Madeleine made the exciting transition from crib to big girl bed!  Both girls clambered eagerly up the stairs to Madeleine's room to watch the big dismantling of the crib, which we thought was important for Madeleine to witness so that she wouldn't suddenly find a giant empty space where her crib used to be.  The crib disassembly initially held their interest, though once they were aware it was to be a long, slow, involved process, they were off to Julia's room to look at princess books.

Nonetheless, Madeleine seemed fully aware of the fact that we had said good-bye to her crib and she now had her very own bed.  Her maiden voyage in the bed took place during naptime.  As I lay snuggling her in the bed, she lay next to me gushing on and on about her new bed:

MADELEINE: I'm in my NEW big girl bed!  Aw, I love my new bed so much!  Yeah, I'm just SO LUCKY to have my NEW BED!  Mommy, this is my new BIG GIRL bed and I'm just so happy I have my new bed!  I'm just so lucky that I got my big girl bed!

Silence.

MADELEINE: Mommy?
ME: Yes?
MADELEINE: Can I go in my crib?

Needless to say, that first nap was a bust, but happily, that evening she fell easily to sleep in her bed and even kept her pull-up dry all night, which felt like a huge success.  As proud as she is of sleeping in her new big girl bed, however, don't make the mistake of calling her a big girl.  As in:

ME: Madeleine, you're such a big girl sleeping in your big girl bed!
MADELEINE: No!  I'm NOT a big girl!  I'm a LITTLE GIRL!  Julia's a big girl!

How dare I.

Naptime yesterday proved to be a bit of a struggle, given that Madeleine, tired as she was, had absolutely no interest in going to bed.  And, of course, given that she is no longer restrained in her crib, there was nothing stopping her from hopping out of bed and making a break for it, dashing out her door and scampering down the stairs with me running behind to catch her.  It took the threat of putting her prisoner inside her pack n play before she was willing to lay down in her bed, and nearly as soon as she had put her head on her (bear) pillow, she was out like a light:

Yeah.  I think we might want to get her a bigger blanket now that she's in a bed.  She's like a little bug afloat a big blue lake.

Last night, she stayed in her bed, singing loudly to herself (as is her usual pre-falling-asleep routine) and conked out without any extra snuggling help from us, so we seem to be moving in the right direction...