My Easy Button

Have I told you how blessed I am to have such an amazing little girl to call my own?  Have I told you how blown away I am by her pure awesomeness?  I really, truly, think that life has given me the easy button a few times with this whole parenting thing.  Now, I'm in no way saying that parenting is easy.  No way, Jose.  It's freakin' hard!  But really....I have been let off the hook more than a couple of times with this one.

When she was 7 weeks old, she moved from our room in a bassinet to her crib in her own room.  Smooth transition.  At 9 weeks old, she was sleeping through the night.  She nursed for 15 months and the weaning...EASY.  Then came the pacifier weaning...once I weaned myself, she was easy to get past it. 

This past weekend, we (on a whim, mind you) decided to convert her crib to a toddler bed.  I say "on a whim" because it literally was one of those situations where I was like, "hey, you want to take her crib apart and see if it really does convert like the box said it did?"  And so, we did.  It helped that my parents were in town for the weekend and were able to confirm our plan as not being too crazy.

And I guess I should point out that ever since I got my hair done (ummmm, about two weeks ago) and was casually comparing parenting notes and daycare stories with my stylist (her son is a few months older than Kinley and goes to a Montessori day care) when she mentioned that her son's teacher acted appalled that he was still in a crib at the age of two.  So, I guess I've been feeling totally crazy about it.  Am I babying her too much?  Am I holding her back?  Am I doing the wrong thing?  Isn't that what all of us moms ask ourselves?  God forbid we do the wrong thing!

So we converted her bed.

And she thought it was way cool and instantly called it her big girl bed.  We really played it up to be something special and she bought every minute of it.  In a flash before my eyes, my baby became less of a baby.

Nap came and we dreaded it....oh, we dreaded it.  And well, this bed/crib conversion isn't very sturdy.  Meaning, I can't lay in it with her without feeling like we're both goin' down!  So as badly as I want to curl up with her and snooze, I can't. 

I try and try to get her to lay down and nap.  No dice.

I put up the baby gate, told her to nap, and walked out.

She got up and shut her door. 

Okay, fine.

Two hours later, (I knew she hadn't slept, she wasn't as quiet as she thought) we opened the door (after picking the lock because she had locked it) and found this:

Hurricane Kinley.  She blamed the dog.

We dealt with a no nap Saturday and moved along.  Saturday night came and bedtime was relatively easy!  And each night since then, (why am I blogging this....I am so jinxing myself!) bedtime has been pretty simple.  She doesn't get up.  She doesn't wander.  She doesn't get up to play.  She's yet to end up in our room. 

Strangely easy. 

But then I remind myself that a lot of these big milestones that most parents dread, have been, well, easy.

I just wish I had a real Easy Button for those dreadful daycare drop-offs that we've yet to master without tears.  And those leaving the park episodes where I have to haul her away screaming and swatting at me.  And those moments when you just don't know what is the right decision to make.  Those are the times when I really wish I could push the Easy Button.  I guess those big milestones are actually the small things.