long time coming

I have many posts I need to make in order to catch you up on my life, but today is all about Lily and her first day in a BIG GIRL BED!
It may seem early, but I have a plan that needs explaining. Lily is definitely ready to potty train. On her own, she has come to us several times and said "Poo". When we ask if she wants to go on the potty, she says yes and then she does. She also hates having a wet diaper these days. BUT, I don't think it's fair to potty train when she spends so much time at child care. So I'm waiting until the summer.
But common sense tells me, that she can't be drinking an 8 oz bottle and expect to be dry during the night. So I want to get her off that last bottle before I start to potty train. BUT also think that the transition to the big bed will be easier WITH the bottle. Hence, I decided she needed to make the bed transition first. There's also the idea that it would be impossible for her to go potty at night if she's stuck in a crib.
So, since I have a full week off of work, I thought it would be a good time to bring on the big bed. I set it up in the afternoon, and she was so excited to be able to get on and off on her own. (Sign of things to come?)She played on it for about and hour!
Bed time came and I kept her bedtime ritual the same, put her in bed and left. About 5 minutes later I heard tiny footsteps coming down the hallway. So I picked her up, said "bedtime", put her back and left the room. That was it. She slept until 12:30 then came into our room saying Mama. I just said bedtime, put her back and left. She didn't fuss at all, but this whole thing was repeated at 3:45 and 5:30. As per usual, she wanted to get up for good at 6:15, but I sat in her room with her and she just laid quietly in her bed until 6:45.
I am very pleased with how she did! Hopefully she'll be able to sleep for longer stretches as time goes on, but I definitely would rather have her come and say Mama to me in my room, than listen to the screams and yells from her room.
My little girl is growing up!