Transition time

Well we decided it was time to go from this:

 to this:

We got Kenley's bed this weekend on Saturday and decided given the height we would try to transition to just the matress only (although we may add the box springs soon but won't do the frame until later.)
After getting everything moved around and set up, we showed Kenley and she was excited.

I went into the first night with high hopes and bedtime started off very well with some storytime...

and I left the room with Kenley laying in bed reading a book and looking so cute but the fairy tale ending ended there because less than 10 minutes later there was nothing but screaming and tears...Kenley mainly had one word, and that word is NOPE.  Now my approach on the first night was probably a little off (but hey I'm learning too, right?). Once she started crying I had tried to lay in there with her and "sleep." I decided I was going to give her an hour. In that time she took every book off of her shelf and brought them to bed and then took every book off the bed (Note to self: remove books on night 2). Then she threw each pillow and stuffed animal off the bed calmly saying NOPE as each one was tossed to the floor. She then put each of them on the bookcase in place of the books. After that she continually tried to get me up saying "Mommy come" and she would lead me to the door and want out. I made another error and actually opened the door at one point where she wandered into the baby's room and saw the crib. She didn't want in it but she wanted to rock in the glider. HMMMM... After an hour when the time was approaching 9pm I decided I'd had enough and she had to get some sleep so I broke down and put the pack n play up in her room, stuck her in it, and closed the door. She cried it out for 10-15 minutes and then slept until morning.

Naptime Sunday went about the same. I gave her an hour and again I made the mistake of trying to be in there. After that, to the pack n play, a brief cry and a 2 hour nap.

Okay, Clay and I restrategized during naptime and decided tough love may be the best. Last night (night 2) we removed all books (except 1), did our story time and regular bedtime routine and then I raced out of the room and closed the door being chased by an already crying 1 year old. OUCH! We were going to give her an hour (I felt worse and worse as the minutes ticked and we quickly approached the 30 min mark). I told Clay half of the guilt comes that she is just in there yelling "Mommy...Mommy...Mommy." It's just hard to not run and give her a hug. However after about 35 minutes or so, all was quiet. When we headed up to bed we opened the door and found her asleep on the floor by the closet. Clay tried to go in and put her to bed and of course she woke up and crawled right back out but she quickly fell back asleep on the comforter I had laid on the floor by the bed. Again she slept until morning....

Now it's night 3 and while I know this is hard on both of us, I'm sure Kenley will survive and I just need to be tough and do the same thing. Follow our bedtime routine, say goodnight, and then leave the room and let her cry it out. Eventually I'm sure she will get the hang of it. Keep your fingers crossed it doesn't take too long and stay tuned for updates.