Mio had been sleeping in her “big girl bed” for naps for the past few months, but she always wants to sleep in her crib at night. (These days, she doesn’t even nap most days unless we’re in the car, so her toddler bed had been untouched for weeks.) Dan and I haven’t really been pushing her to move to the big girl bed, but since we do want to eventually move Mirei from her bassinet to the crib at around 3 months old, we have been encouraging Mio to say goodbye to the crib on her own instead of us having to evict her later on.

I recently fell in love with this balloon-themed bedding set from The Land of Nod’s spring collection, and ordered it for Mio as part early birthday present, part incentive to sleep in her toddler bed. It was during their bedding sale and I got to use a Crate&Barrel gift card I’d been sitting on for years, but it was still a bit of a splurge… so I really hoped it would work. My prayers were answered, and she LOVED it!

Mio's big girl bed
Crawling into her new balloon quilt. She was so excited!

 

Mio's big girl bed
She of course wanted to bring Nemo into bed with her.

 

Mio's big girl bed
It really brightens up the room!

 

Mio's big girl bed
The balloons are made of chiffon and appliquéd on, and the balloon strings are embroidered on. So pretty! I wish I’d had a bed like this when I was a little girl.

 

Mio's big girl bed

 

Mio's big girl bed
Another big milestone in growing up!

 

Bedtime stories in Mio's bed. Mio has been really into Japanese folk tales lately, and here she's pointing at which one she wants to read.
Bedtime stories in Mio’s bed. Mio has been really into Japanese folk tales lately (special thanks to Jackie for the book!), and here she’s pointing at which one she wants me to read. Her current favorites are Momotaro and Issun-bōshi.

 

Reading to Mio.
Daddy usually handles bedtime stories and putting Mio to bed, but Mio likes to have Mama read to her once in a while, too.

 

Mio has been sleeping in her big girl bed since last week and she’s actually eager to crawl into it every night! She excitedly says “Balloon bed! Big girl bed!” It’s another bittersweet part of our little girl growing up, but I’m so glad that we could make the transition smooth and fun for her. 🙂