Sleepy girl

You know how I was so nervous about the big girl bed? After seeing Penelope try to climb out of the crib, I was certain we'd hear her walking around the house at all hours of the night. Well, I had no need to worry. For some reason she automatically assumed she shouldn't get out of bed until Chris or I come to get her. At 5:45 every morning we hear "mama, mama, mama, I get down." If we are playing in her room she has no problem getting in and out of her bed, but during naptime and bedtime she knows to stay in bed until we come in the room. Once it started happening I thought "wow, maybe I should have thought to tell her to stay in bed and wait for mommy and daddy. Good thing she figured that one out on her own!"

Here's how she looked the other day during naptime. Dolly is required at all naps and bedtime now. I love pictures of sleeping kids!
Can I tell you the one thing Chris and I dread the most in terms of sleep? It is napping in the car. I know some parents love when their kids nap in the car, but not us. If she falls asleep for 15 minutes or more, the real nap is shot. She took a 20 minute car nap at 11 am this morning and it completely killed any chance of the 2 hour afternoon nap. Cranky cranky girl by bedtime!

But sometimes she expends so much energy early in the day that she can't wait until that afternoon nap.

This picture was taken a couple a weeks ago. Minutes earlier she was twirling around in her tutu and then everything seemed to annoy her. The fact that Cece was sitting on the couch, the music on the tv, her toys getting in her way. So I pulled her into the chair to give her a hug, and she was out like a light. She napped here for over an hour. It was earlier than her usual nap, but okay since she got a nice long snooze. She woke up in a much better mood!