Me and the BBB

As a parent, there are events that I can anticipate will make me emotional--for example, I know that I will be a messy puddle of tears and baby pictures on my living room floor Abby's entire first day of Kindergarten. Some things, though, sneak up and catch you off guard. They're disguised as just everyday parenting occurances, until suddenly they show themselves to be what they truly are: another sign that your children are growing up and their babyhoods are slipping away.

A prime example happened to me Sunday. For some time, we have been gearing up to move Ethan to a "big boy bed" (BBB). We waited to move Abby until I was pregnant with E, because she loved her crib and never tried to climb out. BIIIG mistake. It was well over a month before we had a night that she actually stayed in bed after being tucked in. It would take hours to get her to go to sleep. So we were determined to start E's process earlier. We didn't want to buy a new adult bed just yet, so I went to Wal Mart on Saturday and got SUPER lucky--I found a cherry wood sleigh style toddler bed for just $37. Woo hoo! I added a Cars sheet and blanket to the mix, and we had the makings of an excellent BBB. However, it was Sunday afternoon before we got it put together, and then we were gone for several hours and didn't get home until well after E's normal bed time. We rushed in the door, and I put the new sheet on the mattress while Matt started taking apart the crib (it's too big to get out of the room in one piece). Then it happened to me. One minute he was just taking apart the crib, and the next he was TAKING APART MY BABY CRIB! The crib that we assembled when I was 6 months pregnant with Abby (I use the term "we" loosely here), the same crib that had stood in the same place for over 5 years and protected and provided comfort, rest and safety for my babies the whole time. And we didn't need it any more! I was traumatized.

Then, as though he knew what power he had to squish my heart even more, Ethan was so excited about his new bed and so tired after our long day, that when I offered to sit with him a while, he said, "No, mommy, I go night night. Bye bye. Bye BYE, Mommy! Bye BYE!" (I may or may not have been holding on to his hand a little tightly at the time). Sure enough, he went right on off to sleep like he's been sleeping in a BBB forever.

Now that I've recounted this story, let me just vent for a minute. I went to the trouble of taking pictures of E during his last time sleeping in his crib, and his first time asleep in his new bed. I downloaded them to Shutterfly, and then tried to use them in the blog--just like I always do. Only. Shutterfly has completely revamped their structure, and it is AWFUL. So I couldn't figure out the pictures, and I sent them a really strongly worded comment in their suggestions section. The nerve! At any rate, I will eventually figure out a new way to get the pictures on here, and once I do you can see Ethan in all his BBB glory.