If you've been following this blog for a while you will now that we are constantly having to adapt our bedtime routine as the little one develops. The last change I made was to take the sides off the cot and put a toddler side on instead. Unlike the first time I tried it, this was very successful and she has been gradually exploring this wonderful freedom. For the last month or two the routine has involved switching on the grow clock, reading a story, playing the lullaby mix on her iPod (through speakers) and then kissing her goodnight and leaving the room.
As she explores this freedom, this routine is just not cutting it. So she has learnt the following things since we removed the cot sides:
- You can climb out of bed and back in while your story is being read
- You can fetch toys and bring them back to bed while the story is being read.
- You can fetch your own book to read while mummy reads the story.
- You can get out of bed in the morning and take stuff back to your bed to play with and read.
Then she learnt the following after a couple of days:
- You can get out of bed once mummy has kissed you goodnight and left the room.
- You don't have to get back into bed with your toys in the morning.
Then a couple of days later:
- You can open the bedroom door after mummy has kissed you goodnight
Then this morning:
- You can open the bedroom door when you are bored in the morning and see who you can find (in this instance she found Smurf the cat, me and the hubby!)
So it's time to adapt and change again. The bedtime story needs to be in her bed, with her lying down and she needs to be dozy by the time I leave the room. As neither of us can lie in her cot/bed it requires a change of bed.
This is in her room already - it is a sofa bed thingy that we have kept laid out as a bed so we can sit on it as we get her ready for bed at night. We have decided to try her in this so I can lie and read her a story. We are keeping the other bed all set up in there for now in case it doesn't work or she want's to go and sleep in that after. So ta-da!
So let's see what tonight's grand bedtime adventure brings. I don't want to put a child gate on the room because I want to teach her now to go to bed properly - but it may come to that if it doesn't work!
This is her testing it out :)
