Well, I think it's official, Z has made the move to a big girl bed.
For a while now, when we went to get her out of her crib, she would get her leg up and over the side of the crib when we lowered it. I tried to dissuade her, but she kept doing it. It didn't worry me too much until the day she put her leg over the side of the crib before we lowered it. All I could imagine was Z doing that when no one else was in the room and just taking a header onto the floor.
We have a bed in our basement that was supposed to be for Z but when we looked at it, it seemed so high. The thought of her falling out of that bed scared me almost as much as the header off the crib, so I went trolling on craigslist and kijiji and found a used ikea convertable crib/toddler bed for a reasonable price. It's only about a foot and a half tall tops and it uses her old crib mattress which I thought might make the transition easier.
We put the bed together a couple of weekends ago. We talked it up and she got to 'help' us put it together so by bedtime she was a little excited about going to sleep. That first night was great. I don't think she realized that she could get out of the bed, so she slept the entire night without getting up once. She did get out of bed when she woke up the next morning and surprised me while I was in shower.
The next night was bad though. She went to sleep as usual, but she woke up around 1am and came into our room, which was fine. But then she just wanted to play. Eventually I took her back to her room and tried to get her back to sleep. Finally around 5:30am she fell asleep on the floor. I left her there because I didn't want to chance waking her up while transferring her to the bed.
That whole week kinda went like that. Not to that extreme again though thank god. Pretty much every night last week she got out of her bed and joined us in our bed. A couple of times she caught Joe just as he was getting ready for bed so he took her downstairs and walked around with her like the old days. He tried to put her back in her room after that, but she got out of bed pretty much right after he shut the door and followed him to our room every time.
Her naps were pretty bad as well. I think Joe only managed to get her to nap in the bed a couple of times. As a result, everyone was cranky last week. She was flying off the handle at the slightest provocation and Joe and I were barely hanging on.
This week has been much better. When she does come into our room now, she pretty much just climbs in and falls asleep. And even better, the last 3 nights in a row, she slept in her bed the entire night.
The change in sleeping arrangements has meant one slight change in the daily schedule though. Before, by the time she woke up and her dad got her from her crib, I was long gone out of the house. Now, she's up and walking around about a 1/2 hour to an hour before I leave. I'm actually surprised how nice and relaxed it's been. We cuddle a bit on the couch I give her some breakfast and she lets me get on with the rest of my morning routine with little to no hassle. And she's only cried once when I left for work.

Ever since she was born, Z has been spending Fridays with her grandparents (my parents). When I was on Mat leave, the two of us would go over for a couple of hours and hang out there, maybe have some lunch if we were early enough. After I went back to work, my parents offered to take her on Fridays so Joe could have a break. They loved having her around and I suspect my mom saw this as a way to ensure that she ate well at least one day a week. (my mother is surprised every time I mention that I have cooked more than a can of soup).
It has been working out really well except for a little bit of crying when I drop her off in the mornings. In the last month though, the crying has started earlier and earlier. First, it was a lot more crying when we got to the door, then the crying started as I unbuckled her out of her car seat. Last week, she started crying when we were about 2 blocks away from my parents place.
This morning, the crying started when I went in to wake her up. I told her we were going to Kung Kung and Por Por's house and she sat up and started to cry, saying 'no go'. After a half hour of this, Joe told me to just go and forget about my parents place for this week.

I know why she's crying. She's bored out of her mind there. My parents are great and they love her, but they have just gotten too old to do this. Z is their 9th grandchild and they have done the childcare for almost all of them. It was great 30 or so years ago with their first grandchild. But they are in their late 70's now and they just can't keep a highly energetic 2 year old stimulated. They ran into this same situation 5 years ago with Z's cousin. They were looking after her 4 days a week and when she was about 2 years old, they admitted to my sister that my niece needed more.
It's obvious that Z is at that point as well.

I've started looking for daycare solutions for one or two days a week (and let me tell you, it's hard to find places that will only do a couple of days a week) because I don't want Z to not want to see her grandparents. I hate seeing her face fall when I say we are going to their house. I don't want that to be the emotion that she associates with them. I'm glad that the three of them had the two years to get to know each other, but it's definitely time for a change.