Freedom and boundaries

Every day there is something new to learn and discover when you are 19 months old. Recently, we allowed Mylie to graduate from her crib. Once the crib was disassembled and sold, Mylie spent almost two weeks in a Graco port-a-crib, because we decided that alas perhaps we weren't quite ready for all that the transition from crib confinement entails. However, this week we decided it was time to bite the bullet and let her learn to sleep in her toddler bed.

She is quite content to lie down on the bed while she is drinking her bottle or occasionally if she is watching a show. However, it is nearly impossible for her to not cave into her instinctive desire to explore and demolish.

This morning Mylie seemed tired and ready for her nap. After about fifteen minutes I decided to peek in on her hoping to find a darling dozing toddler on her comfy cozy toddler bed. Instead, I found her sitting on her little, child-size pink wicker chair in the corner by the window, with half her body covered by the blinds, as she looked into the back yard. She was singing in jubilant gibberish to herself. I then surveyed the damage of my one girl wrecking crew and realized that she had crawled under Maddie's bed (which has about an 18 inch high unobstructed storage space for the entire length beneath the bed) and she discovered all of Maddie's special things which had been put there to be out of Mylie's sight. The room was strewn with dozens of Maddie's books and doll clothes.

Mylie was happy to see me and extremely pleased with her fifteen minutes of hard work in her room.

She survived the entire day today without a nap, but almost killed me off in the process. Sometimes she is able to figure out how to climb into her bed and sleep and sometimes she isn't. She hasn't mastered that we usually keep our head up by the headboard on the pillow quite yet.

Here is the classic learning to use a toddler bed pose that I have of all four of my kids as they learn to use a bed:




I do feel it is necessary to mention that all of those books and clothes and stuffed animals had been put away when I left Mylie in her room. She just likes to make it her business to undo all of the cleaning I do during the day. She is very efficient and can undo an hours work in less than five minutes.

Then there are those nights when she nails it and gets entirely onto the bed with her head on the pillow and she remains that way until morning and I think she's finally got it.

Then there are nights like tonight, when I go into check on her and I find this scene:


All of these items on the floor had previously been in the clothes bin, which Mylie has now turned into her own personal make shift (albeit 'hobo-esque') crib. Curiosity at its finest:





Oh well, whatever works...