A scene we'll be seeing a lot more of

On the weekend we moved Mallory out of her crib and into a big-girl bed. Incidentally, this big-girl bed is a daybed from IKEA that I bought ~10 years ago after realizing I could not fit a regular sofa up the narrow staircase into my second-story circa 1895 apartment. Good thing we kept it even after I moved to a ground floor apartment with a bigger door.

The crib is being passed along to family, and since their little one is on the way soon, Mallory got her eviction notice. We were ready for it. I've had the duvet for a year now, the sheets for nearly as long, and the quilt just finished last week. I did have a bed skirt for her but only realized after opening the package that it can't be used on a daybed - there is no skirt along one of the short ends. EBay, here it comes. (This may be just as well; I'm thinking some under-bed storage baskets might be a good idea.) We needed to order a new mattress for her, and we also picked up a new bed rail (Liam's was red and royal blue - went fine in his little boy room, but would be an eyesore in here.) We let Mallory sleep in her crib for her nap on Saturday afternoon and then made the switch after she woke up.

Of course, the challenge that this presents is that she can now get out of bed at will. And man, does she ever have a strong will. On Saturday night I put her to bed and did not hear another word from her - I think the fact that her room is dark helps to keep her where she belongs.

Unfortunately, the same did not hold true when she went for her nap on Sunday afternoon. Two hours after she was put down, we found her sitting on the floor in her room, with a giant tub of Vaseline that she found only goodness knows where, Vaseline caked all over her face and hair and clothes and most of all, rubbed all over the Care Bear sitting on the floor beside her. She clearly hadn't slept at all but had spent two hours playing with lubricant. Thank goodness she kept it off the carpet - there were a few small spots on the area rug, but the wall-to-wall is intact. I was prepared to put her back to bed 20 times each night after she realizes she can get out, but I was not prepared for shenanigans like that.

I'm sure the putting her back to bed part is still coming.