Going All Mommy Blog For a Minute....

I figured I'd give you all some fair warning that today's post, along with yesterday's are going to throw me fully into the realm of the mommy blogger. If that bores you, then consider yourself warned and move along. I'll be back to my regularly scheduled blogging next week.

With AJ's second birthday rapidly approaching (more on that later) I've been thinking about several things that come along with growing up, namely potty training and moving her into a big-girl bed.

I'm thinking that we won't potty train until this summer when she can be pants-less/naked for most of the day without getting chilly. She isn't really ready yet, although she has started to sit (fully clothed) on her potty when I go to the bathroom. She doesn't yet tell me when she "goes" in her diaper and she doesn't seem bothered at all to be sitting in a wet diaper. Since we use cloth diapers, they are actually wet, as opposed to disposables, which wick the moisture away from the skin.

I know that typically when a kid is potty-trained they need to be able to get out of bed in the middle of the night and go potty if they have to.

With that being said, I don't need to switch her to a big-girl bed until we potty train, but I think I'd like to get her accustomed to sleeping in a real bed for a few weeks (at least) before we start with the hard-core potty training. I anticipate the switch being difficult (mostly for me) because I have a feeling that she is going to get in and out of bed a lot before falling asleep at night. I also am not sure if I should be closing her bedroom door when we switch her to the big bed or if I should leave it open?

Any experienced mamas have advice for me? Right now we close her door completely and keep our door closed as well. She has a lot of cabinets and drawers in her room that she likes to play with and I'm nervous that she will destroy her room if I shut her in there and just hope she goes to sleep.

On the other hand, we have a great bed-time routine down. We give her a bath, get her in jammies and then read a book and put her to bed. I leave the room while she is still awake and she is usually quiet until she falls asleep, but occasionally she cries or whines for a few minutes before going to sleep. When I switch her, do I just continue with the same routine and put her in the bed and leave or should I stay with her? She is so used to us not being with her when she sleeps that I don't think she'll fall asleep if I stay in the room with her, she thinks its a game.

Finally, we have a twin bed that we're planning to use for her room eventually, but should I consider buying a toddler bed to make the transition, or will I just be setting myself up for another whole struggle to transition from the toddler bed to the twin bed? What worked for your kiddos?

HELP!