March Madness

Every once in a while, Rachel is seized with anxiety about how quickly Daphne is growing up. We can't deny that it's moving fast.

Truth is….we have a toddler. A real, miniature person with thoughts and feelings and opinions…so many opinions.

Several transitions are happening in our house – at an astounding rate of speed!

Transition # 1 – toddler bed

We know that the crib does have an expiration date on it. Whether it is because there is another baby on the way, your kiddo is climbing out or because your pediatrician is fussing at you for waiting, the transition is inevitable.

We decided to transition Daphne the first weekend in March. We decided to do it on a Saturday for several reasons. The most important reason being - that if it went awful, we did not have work the next day. That morning, we went in to her room and started taking off the front of the crib. We let her ‘help’, pretending to turn the screwdriver and talked about how exciting this was and that she was such a big girl. She was excited because we were excited…and loved carrying around the nuts & bolts.

Then the three of us played in her room for a little while to get her comfortable with it. Then we strategically headed out to run some errands. We aimed to time our return with what would be her naptime. We wanted to build her confidence in sleeping in it and wanted to skip the drama of trying to put her to sleep in it for the night the first time. As we had planned (ha!), she fell asleep in the car on the way home. We put her in her bed and tucked her in for nap time.

Long story short, the transition was pretty seamless. Of course as always, there are bad nights when she was sick, but the bed itself has been Daphne approved. Rachel found a great trick/tip – using pool noodles underneath the fitted sheet on the edge of the bed where we removed the front of the crib. These act as bumpers so she doesn’t fall off and they are easy for her to climb over to get in/out of bed.

Is it nap time yet?

What is daddy doing over there?

LOVE my toddler bed!

Transition # 2 – big girl bike

Daphne received the Little Tikes 3-in-1 Trike as a gift. Thank you Uncle Andrew, Aunt Cori, Sofia, and Lia. She absolutely loves hers! It is essentially three kids’ tricycles in one. Stage one, we push and steer – basically Daphne sits on the seat buckled in and enjoys the ride. Stage two, we can guide while she pedals (we actually skipped this stage). Stage three, Daphne would be able pedal and steer the trike by herself!

The very same weekend of the crib transition, we took off the ‘baby’ pedals, removed the push & steer parent feature, and she is the brand new owner of a Big Girl Bike. 

Daphne has access to all sorts of scooters, bikes, trikes, and wagons at school. So she is familiar with how to ‘ride’ them. Ride is in quotations because while she is not quite tall enough to touch the pedals on some of them, she still gets those moving around the bike path pretty quick – by using her tippy toes!

Before transition - hurry up daddy!

Ready to test it out!

Vrooom!

Transition # 2½ – cozy coupe

Daphne enjoys her little car very much and would probably sleep in it, if we let her. Thank you, Grandma and Grandpa, for this great gift. The gist is that there is a removable floor board. When the floor is in, little ones’ feet are protected and it is mommy & daddy powered. It was time to take the floor out - which allows Daphne to use foot power….yes, think Fred Flintstone!

She loves the newly gained freedom that she has now. Or at least she thinks she has.   :) 

Just driving my car down the street.

Vrooom!

Transition # 3 – bye, bye diapers ??

As Rachel was picking up Daphne from school earlier in the week, one of Daphne’s teachers told her that we might want to go shopping for little girl underwear and get ready to ditch the dipes – because Daphne is ready! Seriously. Stop. The. Clock.

Trying not to get into a whole lot of potty talk…

for (at least) one whole day Daphne went on the potty (every time) at school, had dry diapers, and she consistently tells her teachers when she has to go – and those are a big deal, which means she is ready. 

  

Things are clicking for her. It amazes us how things just seem to come naturally to her, it’s almost effortless.  But, man, do we love to see the pride (and smile) on her face when she accomplishes something new.

In a way it is sad to see the little traces of “baby” slowly fading away, but it’s exciting to see her doing so many new things and becoming so independent.  We want to hang on, but also want to see her fly. 

It’s a fine balance being your parent, Daphne, but we love every single second of it!!