Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site lsuc.UUCP
Path: utzoo!utcs!lsuc!dave
From: dave@lsuc.UUCP (David Sherman)
Newsgroups: net.kids
Subject: Re: Crib to Big Bed advice needed
Message-ID: <948@lsuc.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 2-Dec-85 12:57:43 EST
Article-I.D.: lsuc.948
Posted: Mon Dec  2 12:57:43 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 2-Dec-85 14:32:51 EST
References: <825@hou2d.UUCP> <579@caip.RUTGERS.EDU>
Reply-To: dave@lsuc.UUCP (David Sherman)
Organization: Law Society of Upper Canada, Toronto
Lines: 39

Well, our second child is due March 1, and Ariela is now 19.5
months old.  After reading the various postings here and talking
to people, we decided to start early rather than risk resentment
at having the crib "taken away" from her in February or March.

So, on Thursday we pulled the mattress off the single bed in
the guest room and dragged it into Ariela's room. (She helped
us drag it, actually.)  We left the mattress on the floor and
put a sheet on it (with a rubber sheet underneath), left the
side of the crib down, and let her experiment with climbing
in and out of the crib. (She can't quite do the "in" part
alone yet.)  When it came to bedtime, we put her in the crib
as usual.

Since Friday night we've let her sleep in the bed. It's
been difficult - she'll flop down on the bed with no problem
and let herself be covered and tucked in, but 2 minutes later
she's up, opened the door and looking out amusedly over the
gate we put up at her bedroom door.  No amount of cajoling
gets her back to bed for too long, until she's really tired.
I think she may be getting the message though - last night,
when she *kept* getting up, I put her back in the crib for a
while, and explained that if she didn't stay in bed she'd have
to stay in the crib. Eventually, after a good cry/scream, I
put her back in bed and she stayed.

I guess it's hard for her to understand - she gets to sleep
in the bed, which has all the advantages of freedom... but
if she exercises that freedom she gets in trouble. Ah well.
Next step will be to move the crib out.

(This is going to be a multi-step exercise: our ultimate
objective is to get her, in a bed, into what is now the
guest room, and have the new baby in what's now her room!)

Dave Sherman
Toronto
-- 
{  ihnp4!utzoo  pesnta  utcs  hcr  decvax!utcsri  }  !lsuc!dave