Big Girls....

...sleep in Big Girl beds:

And Big Girls learn to dress themselves:

Such concentration!

Look at that belly! Hahaha

 

Can I just say I'm AMAZED at how quickly the Little Miss has jumped to these "Big Girl" stages after showing no real interest in some of them!? We'd practiced dressing ourselves now and then but it was never a huge feat for her. She'd try to dress herself but, honestly, she just didn't care. Tonight while folding and sorting the clean laundry she took her pajama bottoms, sat on the floor and started dressing herself. She did 95% of the process COMPLETELY on her own. So proud.

As for the transition to her toddler bed..well, that just sort of happened. After Y's surgery napping (and going to bed at night) on her own were a struggle. In the months just after the surgery all she wanted was to be held. To have me close by. Every time we'd try to return to her sleeping on her own there would be fits and tantrums and pure refusal. It was most likely the WRONG move but I gave in..choosing to SURVIVE the day with a nap vs. no nap. I'd have to rock her to sleep, place her in her crib and stay in her room, working (thank goodness my work is done on the laptop!) while she slept. If ever she woke and I wasn't there, the nap would be over. During our trip to Missouri in July, there just wasn't a good place for her to nap other than on my Mom's bed. Sure we had her PeaPod Travel bed but it just wasn't real easy for naptime. So we began working on having her fall asleep next to us, not in our arms. Most days it was successful. Once we were home, we continued this, having her fall asleep next to us on our bed and it's been a HUGE success. This began transitioning to night time as well. Instead of being rocked to sleep, she wanted in her crib to snuggle in on her own. Soon she began to get frustrated that she couldn't get in or out of bed on her own (and quite frankly we were tired of leaning over the crib to pat her back now and then). 
(Disclaimer: We TRIED CIO and Ferber and it just didn't work for us. So while it may have been hugely successful in your household, it wasn't in ours and, really, Y nor I could handle the tears.) 

So, we discussed converting her crib to a toddler bed. We questioned whether or not she was ready; whether or not we'd be spending the night sending her back to her bed. And then one weekend, while her grandparents were here visiting, we just DID IT. I'm SO proud of how well she's done. She climbs right in at night after some milk and snuggle time with Mom or Dad. After whispering some sweet words she's out for the night. We haven't had to struggle with her getting in and out of bed - she just sleeps.

Potty training seems to be not far behind. She's beginning to tell us when she needs to go poopy and pulls at her diaper wanting it changed when she's very wet. We're not going to push it - just waiting for signs that she's ready and take it one step at a time.