A few weeks ago we decided to make the transition.
With so many changes over the last year, we didn't want to transition the twins to big kid beds until we had been in the house for a while. With every move we made over the last year, it would take a good week before everyone was back to sleeping well.
Ironically, since our very first night in the new home, everyone has slept well. Yes, I know many people transition their little one out of a crib much sooner than we chose to. In all honesty, we had no reason to move them. They weren't climbing out, sleeping horribly or out growing their cribs yet.
I also have heard many horror stories of transitioning to big kid beds. My co-worker, whose twins are six weeks younger than mine, had no choice but to transition about 9 months ago because her girls were crawling out of their cribs. Their transition to big kid beds included putting the lock on the outside of the door, her husband sitting in their room with his computer working until the kids fell asleep, and watching them play for over an hour on the video monitor before they would finally crash, in whatever location in the room they ended up. In fact her stories were so frightful I stopped asking her how the transition was going! Even months after they made the transition they were still having difficulty. Cribs for life, I decided!
Then one day, I was in Lauren's room and just thought today was the day. I already had a toddler bed for her, (the one A used), so I gave it a coat of paint and the next day took down her crib and replaced it with her toddler bed. She was so excited.
It was a little bitter sweet disassembling that crib for the last time. We carefully picked that crib 6 years ago from Suite Dreams, not knowing if we would have a little boy or little girl sleeping in it. Not knowing how many other little Schaack's would make that their first bed as well. I've always loved that crib. Now it's home to another couple who is expecting twins soon.
Ironically, right after this, we were given a box spring and mattress that we would use for Caleb's room. So a couple days later, his crib came down and his new big kid bed went into place. He loves his new big kid bed and eventually we will get him a headboard and frame but for now it does just fine on the floor.
About a week later, I stumbled upon a bedroom set from L I just had to have. I have no intention of putting a full sized bed in her room but what if she has a friend over and she needs somewhere to sleep? I decided a trundle bed would be perfect. This set included a trundle bed, dresser and night stand and fits perfectly in her cozy room.
Our transition has been very smooth. C has yet to get out of his room and does exactly what Alena did when she transitioned into a big kid bed: Calls out for mom or dad to come get him when he is done sleeping. (You may recall from previous posts, that A continued to do this for years, and just recently realized she can get out of bed on her own!).
About a week into the transition, Lauren woke up early in the morning and just sat outside our room, saying "mommy," "daddy," louder and louder until one of us heard her. Another time she decided to come all the way in our room and ended up standing right beside my head. I rolled over, opened my eyes and saw a figure there! Startled, I let out a little gasp, which frightened her and we ended up with a tearful L in our bed for the rest of the night.
The best story of all, was when we had tucked all three kids in bed and Justin and I were doing our normal evening routine on the main floor, (making lunches, gathering things that would be needed the next day, etc). Justin went up to shave and saw something in the hallway. There, fast asleep with Clifford was little L. Our carpet must be pretty comfortable.
Other than that, our transition has been successful!
KINDERGARTEN:
A is loving school. We had her conference last week and left her classroom very proud parents. She loves to read and is so motivated to learn. I hope her love of school continues.
She loves riding the bus and has a group of friends she visits with during the ride. Her bus driver, Alan, is great and I feel completely confident when she leaves my side in the morning and walks up the stairs into the bus. (I did recently discover what happens if I am not home when the bus comes to drop her off! Silly work made me 2 minutes late!).
She eats school lunch about once or twice a week. I'm glad she is willing to try meals at school and I'm always quick to remind her to get some fruit and veggies on her plate too :). Otherwise, she takes cold lunch which we get ready the night before. I am not that parent who cuts her sandwiches into cute shapes or gives her surprises/notes every day. She is pretty easy to please but I will surprise her with a treat every now and then. I've tried and tried to find a vegetable for her to pack but have not been successful, yet.
Her teacher says she is a great friend and is friends with everyone. This does not surprise me at all as this is similar feedback we received when she was at PCDC.
She had to bring snacks to school today and wanted something "fun." Her teacher has stressed the importance of healthy snacks, (plus it cannot be homemade, which still irritates me!), so we had to get creative. Thanks to Pinterest, these little turkeys were made last night:
A LOST ITEM:
On our way back from San Diego, right after we had gone through security, I realized we had left a pretty important object in our rental car.
The first day of my conference, I took my I pad with me, not knowing if some of the information I would need would be online. That afternoon, I unpacked the I pad from my purse and left it in the rental car. I didn't use it the rest of the trip and didn't realize it was still in the car. (It must have been tucked between the seat and the console). We unloaded everything from the car the evening before we left CA and packed our suitcases. When we dropped off our rental car the next morning, (at 4:30 AM), it was still dark. We assumed we had gathered everything from the car the night before so didn't do a final check.
After going through security, we had an hour and a half before our flight would take off. I knew it would be close if I decided to take the shuttle back to the rental car location, find our rental car, obtain the object, catch the shuttle back and then go through the every growing line at security. I didn't want to risk missing our flight and we had already checked that there were no open seats on later flights that would get us to Des Moines that day.
We tried to contact the rental car company to alert them that we had left an item but got no where. We were worried that if someone found it, they would just take it and not turn it in. Justin was smart enough to lock the I pad preventing anyone from getting online. We have a lot of personal items on there, (emails, a link to our discover account, etc). I was not able to get through to anyone at the car rental company and was told to just fill out an online form detailing the lost item. If it is found, someone will email me.
Wouldn't you know it, Monday morning, I received an email back saying the item had been found. I had to pay $36 to have it shipped but I was pleased to have it back a couple days later! Lesson learned!
