Here's how the song goes (Robin and Hannah taught us this):
(Note: The subject of this song - Ava in this case - should be in the middle of a circle, preferably with a large audience surrounding her, singing and clapping)
Ava is a big girl, a big girl, a big girl
Ava is a big girl
She's 2 years old.
(Note: At this point, the subject should begin hopping on one foot in the middle of the aforementioned circle)
Hop, hop Ava
Hop, hop Ava
Hop, hop Ava, she's 2 years old
Today, Ava has indeed become quite a big girl. It began over the weekend - baby steps - and moved into full fledged a Big GIrl Project this morning.
Over the weekend, we decided to do some transitioning of her room - from the baby nursery (with crib, rocker, changing table, closed curtains - to assure napping! - and limited toys) to a "big girl room." Oh, and also we had been using her closet as sort of a stash for all of the random crap (baby stuff to sell, clothes the kids have grown out of, skin care products to send to my sister in Newfounland....) that we have no place for in the rest of our house, living in Silicon Valley in an 1150 square foot house with a garage that we use to work out of. Since we don't use her changing table anymore (she grabs a new princess PullUp from the basket and changes standing up these days), I converted her Stokke changing table into a play table. We removed all the stuff that didn't belong in the room (I piled it into our bedroom and told Jeff he probably shouldn't try to go in there as there was no walking room), and organized the closet. We also moved some toys in from Ben and Lily's room - dress up clothes-orama! Baby bunkbed - the octuplet babies finally have a home (yes, we have 8 baby dolls...at least). But the rocker and crib stayed as is. Ava was estatic. Fun! Toys! Lily made herself right at home too, at one point asking, "Is this my room or Ava's room?"
The bigger change came this morning, when we realized that we really needed to open up her crib into a toddler bed, so that she can get out on her own. See...she has chosen this past week - a week during which our beloved Whirlpool Duet washer of 5 years has decided to break on us...we are waiting patiently for parts - to whisk off her PullUp during her nap and go pee-pee (if we're lucky...) in her bed, thus dirtying all of her bedding (which we cannot wash, being without a washer while we wait for the part to come in and be installed), and ruining her nap. This has happened about 5 times over the past week and we truly think she knows she has to go potty, but is locked in her crib, so can't get out to go. Last night, about 2am, this happened for the first time during nighttime. So we decided, this was it!
Behold...the big girl room, pre and post-crib conversion:
