Toddlerhood

Four nights ago, Pooka helped Matthew change her crib into a toddler bed, and oh my! she was so excited. Of course when I say "helped" that means she was climbing over Matthew while he worked so she could jump on the bed. She even spent her first night with a real pillow - mommy has been too scared until now to give her one - covered with the pillowcase Daddy Bowler and Athena gave her. I made sure it was super flat though (Mommy has to work in baby steps too).
Well, the first night was golden. She was so excited to be in a big girl bed with a pillow that she went right to sleep and didn't even wake up in the morning until Matthew went in and got her up. I thought "How easy is this?!" Yeah. Sure. The second night, she went to sleep just fine, but then at about 5am we heard this loud THUNK and then screaming. Pooka ran in to our bedroom and climbed up into our bed, and I was shocked to see her chin covered in blood. She had a fat lip and a light shiner. She did NOT go back to sleep, much to my dismay.
Last night, she fell asleep at my folks, and she was half asleep when we put her down at our house, then she slept all night and came in and woke us up at 830 this morning. I thought, "ok, this still isn't so bad. I can do this."
Tonight was a nightmare. I went shopping with my mom and got home right as Matthew had to leave for work. Pooka was still awake so after saying goodbye, I started the nightly routine. When it came time to put her in bed she absolutely refused. I told her about a million stories - all of which involved frogs - and sang just as many songs. I couldn't get her to stay in bed, so I did the only thing I could think of and called my Mother. At this point it was around 9 o'clock. So I did what my dear Mama told me, and closed and locked the door to her room. That worked for about two minutes before Pooka figured out how to unlock doors. I tried it a second time just to make sure she didn't get lucky. She didn't. She was back out even quicker the second time. So I called my Mama again, and tried the baby gate in front of the door, which Pooka also conquered in less than five minutes. Then I remembered that we had a door handle lock and put that on her door. Oooooh, was she mad. So mad that she threw up all over her bed and floor, everything - and I mean everything - that she had eaten for dinner. So I put her in the shower and then turned on cartoons and pulled out the steam cleaner. Mind you, at this time, it was just about 11. I had my enormously loud steamer going full force, waiting for the moment when either my neighbors started banging on my door, or had the cops do it for them. After some cartoons and another story and a few songs, Pook finally decided that she would give up. She only cried for a minute before conking out, just about 11:15. Oye, what a night. Aint toddlerhood grand?