My daughter, Abby, now has a ‘big-girl-bed’ in her room… but something tells me that she’s too scared to sleep in it.

When my husband set the bed up, he had the good foresight to keep her cot up as well… which was lucky, since she is happy to play on the big bed, or even read stories there, but when it comes to actually going to sleep there, it’s an issue.

And I have to wonder why. It’s a big change for a toddler, I understand that. But she was so excited for days before we got the bed in there, telling us all about the ‘bed’ she was getting. She even went to sleep in it for an hour after getting up about two dozen times. After that, she actually asked me to go back in her cot. Last night, it was a similar story, only she ended up just going back to her cot instead of even trying to fall asleep in the bed.

Children’s worlds are so small compared to adults. Everything in their universe revolves around them, and their imaginations. It’s quite amazing actually. But this bed? It’s a big jump for a little person to get comfortable with. She’s used to the surrounds of her cot, protectively enclosing her, and holding both her and her teddy bears in. Well… sort of in. She can actually climb quite happily out of the cot, which is exactly why I wanted to put her into a big bed. The last thing I want her doing is breaking her neck as she tries to climb over the side rail and fall off.

I always know that persistence is key when it comes to toddlers, and I guess we’ll just have to continue reading stories and trying to coax her to sleep until we get her more comfortable with the idea of staying in her big bed.

And here is a photo of her with one of the millions of hats we have in our house that she loves to play with. Ready for bed, in her PJs.