Princess at Rest

Usually the Princess of the moment at our house is running wild, but she took a few minutes to be true to Sleeping Beauty and rest.  I like that she took the time to arrange the skirt of her dress and clasp her hands at her chest.

In Juliana's Bed Today

When I took Juliana up to bed last night she insisted that she needed to take 2 stuffed animals from her play-area with her. As she climbed into bed and added those new animals to the assortment that was already in her bed, I noticed that there is a lot of stuff in there. So today I made a list of the items in her bed today.

3 pillows – 1 large and 2 small

2 blankets – the small fleece blanket that she snuggles in at night and the blanket that covers the rest of her and keeps her toes warm.

3 little silky blankies – originally she had one for home, one for daycare and a back-up in case one needed to be in the wash. When she stopped having a blankie at school she started sleeping with two. Then one of those was in the wash one night and she found out about extra blankie. Since then she has to have all 3 to sleep.

1 blue string from a lacing card set

1 pink foam circle – she discovered this when she came to visit me in the hospital when the boys were born. She insisted that it made a good hat and took it home. I’m not sure when she started to sleep with it.

1 pouch of Kleenex

A jewelry box that winds up and plays Swan Lake and currently contains 3 necklaces and a ring

1 My Little Pony, pink

1 tennis ball, pink

A plastic doll designed for practicing hair-dos along with a bag of hair accessories – she received this from her best friend at school for her birthday and she has needed to keep it close at night ever since.

A sippy cup with water in case she is coughing at night

8 stuffed animals, 2 of which play lullabies

18 books – This started during weekend naps when I told her if she wasn’t sleepy she could read books in bed and have quiet time. I had no idea the collection had grown so large.

I think that we will start by removing some of the books…

The Cow PJs

We haven't had the hottest summer in Pittsburgh, but I also wouldn't call it cold. Starting early in the summer, Juliana insisted that she needed to wear warm pjs at night - mommy, I need to wear long pants, long-sleeves, fleece pjs. When we boxed up her winter clothes, we left 2 fleece pj sets and some lighter weight long-pant/sleeve options in her drawer. Occasionally she would wear one of the other options, but she asked for the cow pjs every night for weeks. One night when they were in the laundry she demanded - mommy, how many days it is going to take for you to do my laundry...I need my cow jammies!! And when she is wearing them on a weekend morning, she is in no hurry to get dressed.

I tried getting her to wear some of the very cute summer pjs I had purchased for her and some even had pants. But most nights those wouldn't do. In early August, I quit trying. I took the 4T pjs from her closet that I had bought on clearance for this fall and added those to the nightly rotation. And I bought some additional sets which had to be worn as soon as Juliana found out about them. The flowered pjs in the picture below - it was 90 degrees the day she wore those for the first time. The night our power was out and it was super hot and humid - she was wearing the cow pjs that night.

The cow pjs are a 3T and the pants are getting short. When she got out of the bathtub this evening she spotted the basket of folded, clean clothes in her room and asked for them. It will be time to say good-bye to them soon, but not tonight.

The Big Girl Bed

Juliana is now sleeping in a Big Girl Bed. She was so happy in her crib that we were in no hurry to make this transition. But we did want to make the change a few months before the twins arrive. It seems that she was ready, she has been to visit her crib in the room that will belong to the twins, and doesn't even miss her crib music - although she has gone into the other room to turn it on a few times and had told me that she will show her brothers how it works :)

We purchased a nite-lite called the good night lite. It is a behavioral tool that shows a moon during the sleeping hours and turns to a sun when the set wake-up time is reached to signify that it is ok to get out of bed. So far it seems to be working well. The first morning (Saturday) she told me that the moon was on for so long; by today she didn't get out of bed until 15 minutes after the sun came on. So far so good.

And the bed...purchased by Nonni and G...not just any bed - it's an elaborate princess bed. It came with components to raise it to loft height so there will be a play area/desk space below at some point. And there is also a slide that can be added...eventually. Once it is at loft height, there is a turret that can be added as well. Here are some pictures from last Friday when it arrived.