V-I-C-T-O-R-Y

That's our naptime battle cry!

At risk of sounding a bit like Dub-ya declaring "Mission Accomplished", I have to post about our small victory yesterday. In September Matt and I purchased Casey a toddler bed. We were hoping to transition him to it before the new baby arrived. Day by day this has been looking less and less like a realistic goal. We have had a few successes. In November Matt managed to rock him to sleep and then place him in the bed for his nap. This only works if Casey falls asleep while we rock him though AND, if we have all the toys cleared off the bed and his pillow, glowworm and other naptime essentials in place. Basically, this only works if there are two of us home so that the person not rocking Casey can facilitate all of the above.

Yesterday was different!! Matt asked Casey if he was ready for his nap (Casey was standing in the living room with his blankie and pacifier). Then we asked him if he wanted to take a nap in his big boy bed. Casey ran straight in and got into bed. Matt followed him in there and made up the bed and Casey laid right down. Neither of us had much hope that this would work, as we've been down this road with him before...it's more of a game than anything. As expected, Casey was up in about 3 minutes standing the hallway. I rocked him for about 5 minutes and placed him back in bed. Again, I heard him playing in his room quietly (which I was ok with) and then heard him in the kitchen playing with his fridge toys (not ok with this). I snatched him back up, rocked him for 5 minutes and put him back in bed. This time, I stood at the door out of his line of vision and waited for him to get up. As he started to climb out of bed, I barked, "lay down." He obliged. We repeated this about 4 or 5 times. I left his door for a few minutes and went back and checked again and he was sound asleep. I guess he thought I was still standing there. Woo Hoo!!

So, I guess it's our turn to start being more consistent with putting him down for naps in the toddler bed. I doubt things will go smoothly when Libby is here unless she is asleep when I try to put him down for a nap. One never knows though.

These pics are from the first time he took a nap in the toddler bed in November.

***UPDATE***

Casey just got up from day 2 of napping his his toddler bed without being rocked to sleep...fingers crossed everyone!