My Little Girl is Growing Up! (graduating to the ‘Big Girl’ bed)

Our recent move into the new house also marked another big move, as Todzilla graduated from baby cot, to ‘Big Girl’ bed. After hearing that we were about to make the transition, the lovely folks at Tippitoes kindly sent us one of their fab Junior Beds to try out. 

We had originally planned to move Big Sis into a regular single bed, but our two girls will eventually be sharing a small room in the new house, and there’s not much space to spare. The Junior bed was the perfect compromise, as it’s smaller than a single (it uses the same size mattress as a cot bed). It’s also lower to the ground, and has removable side guards to stop her from falling out in the night.

The bed frame retails for £79, which I think is pretty  reasonable, considering it can be used until Big Sis is around 5 years old, and then the little ‘un can move into it.

It was actually pretty simple to put together once I’d worked out where everything went – although,  if I had to find fault, the instructions could’ve been a teeny bit more detailed.

It looked great once it was finished, especially with the lovely pink gingham Baroo duvet cover that Tippitoes also sent us to try out.

Big Sis likes her routines, so I expected to have a bit of trouble with the switch. We tried to gear her up for it for a few weeks beforehand, by getting her excited about moving to the ‘Big Girl’ bed. I was pleasantly surprised to find that she was so excited by her new bed that she went upstairs without complaint – although she insisted on keeping the big light on in her room until she fell asleep (we’ll deal with that one next, when we’re more a bit more settled…).

On the downside, it only took her just a couple of nights to realise that, as easily as she could climb into the bed, she could climb out of it too! This new-found freedom has resulted in some very late nights, as the pull of the toy cupboard has proved too much for a fun-loving toddler to resist.

Our renovations budget hasn’t actually stretched to internal doors yet, so she simply clambers out of bed, and wanders around at her leisure. One night I heard the tell-tale patter of little feet above, and found her in my room, a playing with my i-Pad.

Then, a few hours later, OH was woken up by Todzilla poking him in the face, reciting: ‘Eyes… eyes… ears… nose… HOOOONK!’
Just the other night I was just falling asleep when I heard a strange crunching noise. When I checked I found the scenario below:

Don’t ask me where she found the apples, or why she insisted on eating four of them at once. The second shot was taken just 10 minutes later – after she’d literally fallen asleep mid-munch.

Of course, all these midnight adventures have taken a toll, and the tantrum dial has been cranked up to maximum for the past few weeks. And, boy, have we had some flailing, screaming, leg kicking doozies. Hopefully they’ll calm down when we settle into a new routine. (Oh dear God, please tell me they will calm down..!)

Then Big Sis can enjoy plenty of sweet dreams in her new junior bed.