Own Room

Nicoley finally has a room of her own. I finished cleaning out the office last week, but Dan was still sick, so I didn't want to move Nicole out of the room until Dan felt better because he is very attached to her.

So, as soon as Dan started feeling better, I just did it. I vacuumed out the office, and started moving furniture. Matt did most of the heavy lifting, but I supervised.

It is a small little room, but I think it works quite well for a little kids bedroom because they don't really need that much space.

The room from the door. Nicole is getting ready for bed here.

Nicoley in her bed. I am going to get new bedding for her probably for Christmas since her bedding is all mismatched.

View of the "closet" that is behind the door.

Cole's toy box and dresser. This was the day she moved in and she had already scattered toys. Sigh.

I really thought that it would be a difficult transition for Nicole to go to her own room. Every other sleeping transition that we have done up to this point has been really awful, so I assumed that this would be the same. But, it turns out that this was the best plan ever!

Nicoley wasn't scared of the downstairs like I thought she would be, she wasn't lonely without Dan like I thought she would be, and she didn't freak out like I thought she would.

The first night, she just went into her room like it was a new adventure and she did her usual thing where she comes out of her room a few times, but it was actually less than she usually does and it was actually easier than most nights.

Dan, actually freaked out more then Nicole did. When he went into his room and saw that Nicole's bed was gone, he panicked and started running over the place where the bed used to be and yelling and looking at me with frantic face. So, we put the love sac where the bed was and then he calmed down. I guess he didn't like the empty space.

Bed time has become so much easier since we moved Nicole downstairs. Nicole can be louder and sing to herself and cry and we don't have to worry about her waking up Dan. I think waking up Dan was stressing her out because she told me that she didn't have to worry about waking up Dan when she sang to herself in her bed.

Nicole is actually going to sleep earlier than she used to. She was staying up until 10:30 or 11pm every night (and keeping Dan up with her). But now, she is asleep most every night by 9:30pm. Which I realize is still late for a three year old, but it is better then it was.

Dan is sleeping SO much better. We put him down at 7pm, we shut the door and then he just sleeps through the night until 7am the next morning. It is amazing! Nicole isn't waking him up and he is actually sleeping so much better.

Making this move was an excellent decision. I didn't think that we would ever use the downstairs room as a bedroom because it was far away from us and it was so small, but it is just right for her. She likes having her own space and she especially likes that she can go in her room, shut the door, and keep Dan out. I think that this will also make it a lot easier when we finally move Dan to a big boy bed (not for another 6 months though).

Not all of our bedtime problems are solved. She still cries, and comes out of her room, and uses a pacifier. But, because she is downstairs, it doesn't seem to bother me as much because it is so far from my room that I don't have to hear it as much. We will have to baby steps to the perfect bed time. If such a thing exists.