Operation big girl bed = fail

Young Margaret has figured out how to get out of her bed. I am not pleased by this development. Naturally I only want change in my children when it's charming and predictable, not when it affects my important television watching schedule.

Our of fear that she'd fling herself out and get hurt, I went on Craigslist -- the most awesome garage sale in the history of the world -- and found a cute little toddler bed. A cherry finish sleigh bed. I opted for the toddler bed, basically a low to the ground bed with rails that takes the crib mattress vs. a twin. For one, I liked that it takes up a lot less space in her relatively small room. And two, it's just so, so cute.

I moved Andy up to a twin  bed when he was ready to move out of the crib and I hated those add-on bed rails. I never could get it to work that great and they always felt flimsy.

Bjorn picked up the bed for me at the bargain price of $15 and brought it home. I invested in a cute new sheet and a Dora blanket and we were all set. On Friday at nap time when I knew she was tired, I made a big deal of her new bed. We read a book, sat nicely and I rubbed her back until she was almost asleep. It should have been perfect. Then about 20 minutes later, I heard the noise of a toy. So I went in, removed all the toys, put her back in bed. This continued for about another 40 minutes when I finally put her back into her crib.

I tried not to get too discouraged. Bjorn did the same routine come the evening and after about an hour, he too put her in the crib. After more of the same yesterday, I moved the bed out to the carport. We'll try it again in a week. Or never.