Transition from cot to single bed HELP

DD decided that climbing out of her cot was a great idea (the end of her cot, mind you, the highest possible point!) and ended up with a black eye and bruised head after she fell. So we've been sleeping her in the port a cot (ground level) for the past few days before installing a single bed in her room.
Now the hard part - she won't sleep in it! We are really struggling to get her to go to sleep in her single bed. She immediately gets up and starts playing, comes out of the bedroom and won't settle at all. If we cave and put her in the port a cot, she goes to sleep almost straight away. I have no idea what to do! If we put her to sleep in the port a cot and then transfer her to the bed later on she is fine, although last night this resulted in her getting out of bed halfway through the night when she woke up.
Please help! I need advice on how to handle this transition and get her to understand what the single bed is for (she's 16 months). Right now DH is in there lying on the bed with her, trying to get her to settle, and has been for half an hour. So much for our wedding anniversary evening!

Yes, I think that might be our only option. Although the playing noises that were coming from the bedroom have stopped, so maybe DH has got it sorted? (I strongly suspect this is wishful thinking on my part, however!).
We have been letting her play on it during the day and I've tried her in it for day sleeps but have the same problem. She gets in alright, even lies down and pulls the covers up herself saying 'night night' and sucks her thumb, but two seconds later is up and bouncing. Little monkey!

When Hannah was 17mos we transferred her. I had to collapse the cot so she had 'no choice' but to accept the bed. She cried the first night and then it was ok.

Hope you're getting a good anniversary weekend after all! It's ours in 2 weeks

PS Kryssi is almost 13mos and will be climbing over hers soon, we have moved the other girls in together so Kryssi can have her own bed and transition to the bed in about a month.
PPS The 2nd child transition is soo much easier cause they just copy the older one

That's a really good idea about the towel Pearls - will try that tomorrow.

About ten minutes after my previous post DH managed the impossible and she stayed in bed! Yelled out a couple of times for us to come and see her, but she does this in her port a cot anyway. And now she is fast asleep! Woohoo! Let's hope it lasts through the night.

I'll have to persevere for the day sleeps. She doesn't get upset, just really won't settle down for a sleep in that she wants to get up and play or bounce on her bed etc. Even when she is dead tired!

Thanks for all the advice, it's good to know we're not the only ones to go through this. And I can't believe I'm posting in the toddler thread! It's too soon!

We are having a chocolate ice cream to celebrate our anniversary, no big thing this year. It's nice to acknowledge three years of marriage/ten years of being together.

that age for a kid could be a bit young for them to understand the concept. its a lot more freedom than what they are used to. i put my son into a bed just before my 2nd kid was born and is was a piece of cake. he was 20mths and understood more about what was happening. the other option is using a safety bar on the bed (we just made a solid one out of wood but you can buy plastic ones. they prevent them from falling out but stops them from wanting to climb out so readily). the other thing is, is it so bad that she sleeps in the portacot for the time being? she can't fall out or climb out. sometimes its easier to work on the bigger battles you could try practicing day sleeps in bed. you do have to be vigalint in returning them to their bed for a number of times to begin with until they understand you want them to stay there...like super nanny!!!

Yay - well done!