O. Baby? O. Child!

So, I don't think I can call this a baby blog for much longer. You are less and less of a baby with every passing day. Today you are significantly less of a baby, and I'm a little sniffly over it.

Saturday night when you fought going to bed so badly, you screamed and demonstrated that yes in fact you can climb out of your crib. You didn't, but only because I pulled you down. It showed us that it was time to say goodbye to the crib after all.

So, Sunday after the Mother's Day festivities, we brought out the nearly pristine bed rail we scored for $3.00 at Goodwill. No, I'm not ashamed to admit that! Daddy scrubbed it with cleaner and hosed it down, not that it really needed it, but did I mention we got it at Goodwill? While it dried, I gave your room some attention. I cleaned generally, and put up high or relocated any possibly dangerous items. I put a door handle guard on the inside of your door and hooked the baby monitor back up. Daddy took the front off of your crib and put it behind for storage.

When it was dry, we entertained the idea of putting the bed rail on the crib, but that folly only lasted a couple of minutes when we realized just how easily you could push the entire bed, mattress and yourself included, right on to the floor. So, we turned our attentions to the daybed which has served as your changing table and general storage site for some time. Cleaned off and readied, the bed rail fit right on. It was perfect.

After your nap, I showed it to you and you were really excited by it. You climbed up, and quickly overcame your fear of climbing back down.

At bedtime, you were again fighting going to sleep. It should be no secret by now to readers of this journal that I've never made a big deal of making you go to sleep by yourself in your room. But I had an epiphany and decided, what better time to start? It took a bit of coaxing, and I had to stay with you for quite a while, but guess what? You fell asleep in your big girl bed. With Elmo and your "new doggie" (actually a big stuffed bear that looks kind of like a dog) at your side.

You slept through the whole night, never waking once. At 6:30 when I came out of the shower, Daddy was settling you in the living room to watch Finding Nemo for the 11,452nd time. He said he'd found you in the hall, calmly calling, "Mommy?" You woke up, climbed down, opened the door and came out. All by yourself. *sniff*

Now I need to replace the doorknob on your door. I couldn't close it last night because it is very squeaky and I was afraid it would wake you up. Seeing as how you clearly have NO problem getting out of bed by yourself, I really ought to do something about this!