The Last Night
There are a lot of parenting choices that split parents into one of two camps. Team pacifier forever or team take it away quick. Team potty train early or team wait until they’re way older. Team switch them to a bed at 18 months or team wait for years.
I don’t know many parents of littles who don’t have strong opinions on these. We certainly do. And if you know us, it’s probably not a surprise that we’re team wait it out on a lot of things. Including the crib.
But the time has come, and the big kid bed is coming. It’s been coming for a while, and we’ve been getting E ready for it. He’s actually pushed us a little quicker than we would have preferred to go, but he’s so excited. So last night when I put E to bed, I held back tears as it would be the last night I’d ever put him to bed in his crib. Where did the time go?
Every day he had been ripping off another loop from his paper chain to count down to today, and we’d chat about what would happen. The dresser was going to move, the new bed would be over on that wall, and the crib would be gone. “We have to keep it, in case a new baby comes!” He told me. I promised him it wouldn’t be gone completely, it would probably go into the attic in case a new baby needed it someday *cough*September*cough*
“We’ll put it in G’s room. He’ll love to play with her a lot. He’ll like her so much!” E told me, suddenly deciding the new baby would be a girl.
Me: ”Oh really? Will you like her?”
E: ”Well I don’t know her yet.”
Me: ”That’s right, we’d have to get to know her.”
E: ”Well, we can choose the baby that we want!”
Me: ”We can? What are we going to choose?”
E: ”Hmm… I think… Olivia!”
Me: ”Oh.. I don’t think we can choose a baby that already belongs to someone…”
Of course I’m worried how the transition will go, which means that he’ll probably be completely fine. It’s always the things I don’t think will be a big deal that end up causing the most problems. Like hand me downs. Pretty much everything G wears is something that E has worn at some point. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if G sleeps in this new big kid bed some day.
I guess I usually hand clothes down after a season has gone by, so maybe G’s forgotten that E used to wear them. Or maybe he was too young before to notice and now he does. But either way, we tried to put him in a pair of PJs that E had worn a week earlier (and I had decided were too small for him), and it did not go well.
“Noooo! These E PJs! E’s PJs!” We tried to explain that they used to be, but they’re his now. And look, they’re even yellow! He should love them! “Take’em off!” TAKE’EM OFF!" TAKE’EM OFF” He screamed over and over, non stop crying. There was no calming him down. There was no reasoning with him. That was one battle I couldn’t win. He went to bed wearing different PJs, and I haven’t been brave enough to try again.
Unfortunately there is no plan B with this bed. It will be the only option tonight, and we’ll just have to get through it, no matter how rough it is.
Wish us luck!