Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Notches in the Big-Girl Belt



After a whole month has passed since 31 for 21, I still feel that little twinge of guilt at missing a day or two of blogging.  My brain tells me it's downright silly to expect to be able to think of stuff to write (that may or may not be remotely interesting to a reader) every day, but my eyes see the repeated visits from some loyal readers popping on and popping off, periodically, throughout the day, and my heart feels that magnetic urge drawing me towards my keyboard, wanting to unload something, (anything!).  And sometimes there's just...nothing.

But there's never truly nothing when it comes to Samantha.  There's always something.  Even those little things, so minor to most people, that mean so much to us, that cause such a stir of excitement that she's taking next steps in her development, in some way.

We can often be guilty of not pushing for certain aspects of her development, like we know she is perfectly capable of drinking from open cups, but we still use straw cups for the most part.  It's easier, it's neater and less messy, and it makes her drink more fluids, more quickly, something bred from years of watching her suffer through bouts of constipation.  No parent wants to see their child go through difficulties, so it's much easier to smooth the path for them, in any way possible.  (C'mon, you've all been there...)

Two things changed this past weekend. 

First, I finally decided to remove the bedrail from her twin bed.  "Don't fall out of bed tonight, okay?" I said while tucking her in on Sunday night.  "I won't," she replied, sounding just a little bit exasperated.  I mean, sheesh, she's five!  And a half!  And you know what?  She didn't fall out of bed.  Nor did she the next night.  And I just checked on her a minute ago, more than an hour after she went to bed, and she's lying just about as close to the wall as she can, at the farthest point from the edge.  For a kid who always slept right up against the rail, she's showing that she knows her boundaries, and can sleep safely.  This actually opens up a whole lot of future travel possibilities.  We're always so paranoid about sleeping anywhere but home with her, without wishing desperately that we'd dragged the massive guard with us and making her sleep on a mattress on the floor next to our bed.

Second, after months and months of discussion and contemplation, Steve figured out a way to jury rig the wall-mounted baby gate protecting the top of the stairs from an accidental tumble, so the pain-in-the-ass noisy, insistent cats can still come and go when the gate is closed.  This is huge, as it now meant that we could remove the childproof doorknob cover that's decorated the inside of Samantha's door for so long, to allow her to exit her room when she wakes up, to go use the bathroom on her own.  She sleeps very soundly at night, so it's not until she awakens in the morning, which is perfect.  I still hear her get up, and go to check on her, but immediately we could see that she was super-proud of the uber-independent, big-girl notch in her belt.

Of course, when her independence is exerted while I'm in the shower, flushing the toilet when she's done, it does have its definite drawbacks...

10 comments:

Anna Theurer said...

Yay Sammi! No more bedrail :) Just a question--when did you move Sammi into a big girl bed?

The Annessa Family said...

Totally made me snicker with the flushing comment :)

Big girl!

Brooke
www.TheAnnessaFamily.blogspot.com

Becca said...

Anna - we moved her to a toddler bed (with the teeny tiny little rail at the head of the bed, which didn't stop her from falling out one. bit.) about 4 months before she turned 3. We ditched the toddler bed for a regular twin bed (and got the bed rail) just before her 4th birthday. It was soooooo much better than the toddler bed (b/c you can't attach a rail to the toddler bed)!

sandra said...

i do still feel like i should blog everyday too, after 31 for 21 i blogged all november pro-adoption, and now that november is over (ok it was over 7 days ago) my husband keeps asking me if i blogged, lol, apparently im not the only one who is missing a daily update, hehe

anyway, Elias i think he is ready to sleep without a rail, tho in this city where we live or is hot or is too cold so he has been sleeping with us lately since we bought a minisplit, yes, our fault, maybe by next summer we could buy the two other minisplits for each of the kids rooms. mm before minisplits he slept in his room since he was 3, so now he is 6, almost 7 and he should go back to his room soon, also Eva, tho she MOVES a lot!! so im sure she will ned rail in her bed too.

well if you dont feel like writting, a picture is ok :) i guess!

Rochelle said...

Love her new independence.

Cate said...

heh. Abby drinks from an open cup at school just fine, but at home? I don't want to deal with it.

JC said...

It's fun seeing how much more independent Sammi is growing each day!! The small stuff is huge to us, and I love reading anything about Sammi :)

Wren said...

Yay for no more bed rails!!! What a big girl!

Unknown said...

when did you do the big girl bed for Sammi? I am looking into the change for Maddie...and I will do the bed rails...Sammi is such a BIG girl!! I do like that you post most days! I know selfish on my part...but I always look forward to a bit of Sammi goodness! smiles

Melissa said...

Way to go with the big girl bed! For some reason the move to a bed just seems to huge. We are still deciding what we are going to do when new baby gets here....I really don't want to buy another crib, and somehow I have a feeling baby #2 won't be able to stay in the bassinet (with 15 lb weight limit) for 6 months like Claire did!