Transitioning Lyla to a toddler bed

I had no intention of transitioning Lyla to a toddler bed anytime soon ... until she figured out how to climb out of her crib and made the decision for me! It was nap time and I was painting one of the walls in our downstairs entry room. It had been 20 minutes or so since laying her down when all of the sudden I heard a "Hi momma! Hi momma! Hi momma". It was both adorable seeing the joy in her face and terrifying knowing what would come next. I just started saying noooooo nooooo out loud because I was so shocked/in disbelief and it totally hurt her feelings and made her cry. haha I felt terrible about it. I gently carried her back up to her crib telling her it was night night time and quickly grabbed the baby monitor to bring back downstairs with me. I watched it for a solid 20 minutes until she looked like she was fast asleep, set it down, and began painting again ... a few minutes later I heard a thud and some whimpering. I ran up there as fast as I could (she was totally fine, just didn't land gracefully) and I knew her time in her crib was up.

When Nic got home from work that night he took down the side of the crib and put up the toddler rail (a first for us because Liam never climbed out of his crib before we transitioned him to a big boy bed anyway). She has loved it from the moment those bars came off (FREEDOM!!! ... for her, not for me. haha).

Her first night in her toddler bed, sweet girl ...

The first night she tanked in my arms because she had skipped her nap after her shenanigans that day. It wasn't until the next day that we got a real feel for how she would do.

It has been learning curve ... many nap times skipped since, dresser drawers emptied, reading books, knocking on her door, flicking her light on and off, playing with the buttons on her sound machine, and anything else she can possibly get into, she's tried. 

With the advice of a friend who had twins that she had a similar transition experience with, recommended adding a childproof handle on the door knob so she couldn't come out 100 times, shifting her bed down so she can't reach her light switch, hiding the sound machine under her bed, and moving everything but her bed out of her room. It's sad seeing it so empty in there but we shifted everything to her closet for now and it has helped so much.

I think this was her way of boycotting those changes by falling asleep on her floor instead of her bed ...

It has happened a handful of times and she does well when I go in there and move her to her bed. So sweet holding on to her bunny ...

Naps in general have become harder. Some days she takes one and wakes up miserable, only to fall asleep again in my arms on the couch ... other days she doesn't take one at all. 

But our favorite time together since this big change is reading books in her bed that I can now climb into with her. She loves scooting into my lap with her sippy cup of milk and her puppy books. We read together and I sing her a song and then tuck her in with a kiss and an "I love you". She may be even more of a toddler in her new bed but she'll always be my baby.