Tackling the Terrible/Terrific Twos

Jennifer:

We just moved Gianna to a big girl bed about three weeks ago. We talked about it often before we made the change. We told her it would be bigger, so she’ll have more room when she sleeps and she’ll have a big cozy blanket and pillow. We also talked about kids we know that have big kid beds. That seemed help her get excited about the transition. Gianna went to the store with us and picked out the sheets and comforter she wanted out of the three choices we gave her.

We removed the crib and installed the new bed when she wasn’t there, because we sensed that she’d be worried about the crib if she saw us taking it apart. She was instantly excited when she saw the big bed in her room and she climbed up and into the covers. Since the change, we haven’t experienced any issues. She actually hasn’t gotten out during the night. If she wakes up during the night, she usually calls for us like she did in her crib. She may soon realize that she has more freedom than she did before, but we’re enjoying this time so far.

Teresa:

With both my kiddos, once they could climb out of the crib on their own, I was concerned about them falling onto the floor from the top of the crib railing. They have both used the same crib. In the interest of saving money, I got a crib that converted to a toddler bed with a short partial railing so that they could climb out and instantly touch the floor and at the same time not worry about them rolling out while they’re sleeping. I haven’t transitioned Laney to a big bed yet because she still fits in her toddled bed and her room is tiny, so I’m not sure how we’d fit a twin bed in there anyway. With Brenden, it was a pretty easy transition from the toddler bed to a twin bed. He got his twin bed and matching dresser from Santa for Christmas. We did go through the period where he’d climb out and sleep on the floor next to the door, but consistent reinforcement of sleeping in his own bed remedied the situation. Fortunately, Delaney stays in bed until she wakes up, but that may change when we first transition her to a twin bed.

Teresa:
Delaney does still take naps, and she actually used to be really good about going to bed when you told her it was time. As we are in the heart of the terrible twos, it hasn’t been super bad yet, but she has shown some resistance to nappy time. She starting to pull the typical avoidance tactics by not wanting to go potty, then taking forever once she’s convinced to go potty, then she wants a bunch of her stuffed animals and of course the one color baby (she’s got yellow, pink, blue, and two purple clothed babies) that I can’t find. Then yesterday I got her all tucked in and ready to go only to shut the door and hear immediate crying. This isn’t typical for her. She usually goes right to sleep with no fussing once the door is closed, so I opened the door to see what happened. When I asked her what was wrong, she blubberingly said, “I blow kisses mamma…” Apparently I hadn’t caught them as I shut the door, so I gave her one more kiss and hug and made sure I caught the kisses she blew. This time when I closed the door, all was quiet.

Laney typically takes two-hour naps, but on occasion, when she’s sick or having a growth spurt, they have been up to 4 hours. If she doesn’t get a nap, the evenings can be very tearful and whiny. I try to stay pretty on schedule and make sure she’s down for her nap sometime between 12:30 and 1:30. I think staying consistent has been the best technique to get both kids settled down for nap or bedtime.

Jennifer:
Gianna takes a two to three hour nap a day. We can usually tell it’s time for a nap when it gets to be lunch time. She often rubs her eyes and wants to be held. We usually do lunch around 11:30 and I try to prepare her for naptime by talking about what we’ll do in the afternoon after her nap. After she’s all cleaned up from lunch, we snuggle and read a book and by that time, she’s ready to lie down. She’s been in a crib up until last weekend, so we usually would just hear her talking or singing in her room when she was awake. Now that she’s in a big girl bed, that will all change. As soon as she’s ready to get up, she doesn’t let me forget the activity we previously talked about. The longer Gianna goes without a nap, or if she doesn’t get a nap at all, we notice that the amount of meltdowns increase significantly. She just gets frustrated and all out cranky (just like anyone needing sleep, I suppose). A nap is what she needs to be re-energized for the afternoon.

Amy:
This is a fun topic to tackle only because naptime is so easy now. When Jake was in childcare his naps were very short. Then Don started staying home with the boys and began to take the easy road of planning errands right around naptime. Jake would always fall asleep on the way home and then Don would carry him down to his bed to finish nap. That started making bedtime a nightmare, as Jake needed someone to help him fall asleep. After Don and I visited about the new challenges of bedtime he started putting Jake down awake at naptime. In two days flat Jake was fine and actually now prefers to just be put in his crib – no songs, no stories, no rocking. In fact, when you try to sit and rock him he points at his crib until you put him to bed. He rolls over and you don’t year another peep until he wakes. When we are late for nap, he will often pick up his blankets and say “ni-night”. This works when we are camping, staying in a hotel or at home.
Jake’s average nap is 2-hours. If it is significantly shorter than this, the rest of the day can be full of meltdowns. There have been several occasions where we have skipped naptime all together. Typically this is when we are out and about. When this happens we are busy and he rarely misses a beat. This also lends to a bit earlier bedtime though. This summer I took the boys to Silverwood and Jake was not having anything to do with a nap. He had a great time, was in a good mood and even outlasted his 7-year-old brother on the trip home.
I attribute all of this to dad and think it is our payoff for parenting our now 7-year-old through sleepless nights until he was almost 3. And, again, it is fun to write about a topic that is easy at our household – now just don’t ask us about the binky issue!