Good morning! Today I am so excited to share with you part of E’s big girl room!  Her room is still a work in progress, but one of the things that we wanted to establish before baby sister arrives is that this is Eleanor’s room.  If you ask Eleanor to show you her room, she walks and points to this one.  So as far as goals go, check!  We are absolutely not going to push her sleeping in this room until she is absolutely ready (and we really don’t need the crib until around August).  But, today I wanted to share our thoughts on transitioning her to her new room!

1.We decided to go with an adjustable twin bed and mattress (can make it shorter than even a regular twin) versus a second transitional crib because it will grow with her for longer and we will not have to transition twice.  Eleanor so far has been a pretty adaptable child.  So, knowing her personality, we thought we would give this a shot before assuming she wouldn’t be ready.  Worst case scenario, we go get a crib and save this bed for later.
2. Next, we wanted to have her see and help with the building/creation of the room well before baby arrives. She helped us get the bed out of the box and “helped” put it together.  She mostly just moved cardboard from one side of the room to the other and hid the instructions, but all in all, super helpful.
3. We are so excited about using the Dockatot Grand (9-36 months) to ease her sleep transition in bed. It’s not only super comfortable, but is also breathable so it’s safe for sleep.  They also have an infant option for 0-8 months!  We wanted something that would help her feel “confined” like in her crib, but not so permanent so this fits the bill perfectly!
4.  We are still going to use the same sound machine and heater (we are purchasing both again for baby) to help the room sound and feel the same.
5.  We have at this point cut down on most “baby” nighttime rituals.  She is off of bottles and other than brushing her teeth and turning on all of her machines, she just lays down and goes to bed.  The only thing I would really like to kick before baby is the pacifier habit. Right now she has a “bink box” that she gets to choose pacis from before bed.  There are about 25 we keep in there and she gets to choose about four before bed…it is funny to watch her root around for the ‘good’ ones and change her mind and put one back.  It is actually helping to have so many in bed with her because she really doesn’t cry out at night for them anymore, she just roots around until she finds one!  Buuuuuuuuut…ugh I hate the look of pacis and just really want to be done with them.
6. And we picked out a big girl comforter and pillow that were simple enough that we could build a room around–nothing so ‘loud’ that it dictated the entire decor of the room.

All in all, we are really just trying to make it as stress free as possible for everyone, but mostly E.  We have tried to stay flexible and adjust when needed on most things parenting and so far it has kept us sane.  She has already taken one nap in it and didn’t freak out or try to climb out of her Dockatot, she just started playing with her binks and making noise when she woke up like normal so we took that as a good sign!

For more information on the Dockatot and a $10 off coupon, head here!

What transition tips do you all have?  What made the move easier for your littles?
Hope you all have a great week!
Erin

Ps.  Stay tuned on Friday for a post all about toddler eating with an exciting giveaway!!

*This post was sponsored by Dockatot, but all opinions, as always, are my own!