Freedom

Way past our bedtime

Anna and Cara sleep in the same room, but in separate cribs.  They do pretty well - usually when Cara is asleep by the time I bring Anna in, there's no problem.  If Cara isn't all the way asleep, then we'll hear the girls on the monitor talking to each other for a little while before they go to sleep.  Cara will call, "Aaannnnaaa…." until Anna responds.  If we go in to tell them to go to sleep, they fall right into sleeping position, right where they are, as if that's how they had always been, and Cara, at least, pops right back up once we leave.

Anna has been wanting to get into her crib all by herself, so we figured it was time to convert the crib into a toddler bed, with safety rails.  I did that tonight, and we weren't sure what to expect.  Anna gasped with excitement when she saw that she could get in and out all by herself.  After her bedtime stories, I told her many times that she needed to stay in bed.  She wasn't allowed to get out of bed and play.

Well, Cara wasn't quite asleep yet, and I heard the usual play sounds.  Only now I heard more banging than usual (even though many times it's just Cara kicking her crib mattress).  I went upstairs and cracked the door to see what was going on.  Anna was still in her bed, but then I saw that she would purposely slide off her bed between the safety rails, fall to the floor (bang), then get back in, and repeat.  I went in and told her to go to sleep.

A little later, I heard more banging.  Then I heard a toy singing "You Are My Sunshine."  Knowing that toy wasn't in either of their cribs, I again went up to investigate.  I cracked the door, and thought Anna was in her bed - but no, she wasn't there.  I looked around the room, wondering where she went.  Then I looked over and realized that she had gotten out of her bed, somehow climbed her way into Cara's crib, and was just in there playing and giggling with Cara.

I took this picture around 10pm, after we had put the girls, in their separate cribs, at 8:30pm.  Notice that somehow one of Cara's arms escaped from her pajamas.  How could you be mad at these faces?  Anna was sad when we put her back in her bed and took Cara out to rock her to sleep, but thankfully both are (finally) sound asleep now.