Why Me?!?

I have always considered myself blessed when it came to Kyla's sleep habits. She has slept in her own bed since day one. There have been a few nights when I was home alone that I would sneak and let her sleep with me. Also since she was six weeks old she has pretty much been on a 8pm-8am sleep schedule. This has always worked out perfect because it allowed me to get homework done and get some quiet time before bed. Who could ask for more?

Well this week all of this has changed. I don't know if it’s because I've been on vacation or a new phase she's going through (God I hope not the latter). Every night this week has been a fight to get her to go to bed. I think the earliest time was 9:30 and this wasn't her actually going to sleep just lying down temporarily. Five minutes later you can hear her crying "I no wanna go night- night" "Wanna lay down with mommy". 

Oh, and to make matters better Kyla has finally realized that she can climb out of her crib. *UGH* I knew it was coming... Kyla has one of those 4-in-1 convertible cribs. I won't mention the brand because unfortunately they have had some recall (not our model...whew). Once Kyla started standing up in her crib we lowered the mattress to the very bottom setting and this bought us some much needed time. My daughter is the height of a 3-year old and she's only 2 years and 4 months.

The other night when I was putting her to bed she climbed out but I put her right back. She laid there and kicked and screamed but did not get back out. I thought the coast was clear...think again. We didn't hear anything else from her so we figured it was safe to go to bed. Around 1:04 (to be exact); Kyla is climbing in my bed with her blanket in hand. After several attempts to get her back to bed I conceded and let her sleep in our bed. When Kyla says she want to sleep with mommy, what she really means is I want to sleep ON mommy. She literally slept on my face most of the night and pushed me to the very edge of the bed. Twice I almost fell to the floor. That was a long night with not sleep.

So we decided to convert her bed to a toddler bed to prevent her from breaking her neck when climbing out the crib. The problem with this is that it makes it easier to get out of her room. Because Kyla is so tall; she can open all the doors and can reach the counter tops (recipe for disaster). A friend of mine suggested that I turn the door knob around so that it locks on the outside. Sounds like a great idea, right? Last night we introduced Kyla to her new big girl bed and she was very excited to be able to get in and out on her own. We put her to bed and of course she gets out turns on the light and begins crying and knocking on the door. After three more attempts she finally cried herself to sleep in the bed.

This is where the fun begins. She wakes up crying at 5:07AM and me being a sucker concerned mom; I go in there to check on her. She was standing at the door with her blanket crying "wanna lay down with momma". I talk to her about how she had to be a big girl and sleep in her bed. Twenty minutes later it seemed to work. I go back to bed and hear a thud. I immediately think she fell and rushed back in there. She was fine; she just threw her Elmo doll across the room. I calmed her down and went to leave her room when I realized I locked myself in. I tried to pick the lock to no avail. My husband who was dead to the world was no help. Kyla was very happy that I was stuck in the room with her. So I had to spent the night on her futon...I love my life.

I am open to any suggestion or ideals to ease this transition...HELP!