Sure, it looks like a serene bedroom scene. "Cute sheets," you might say. Well, I am here to tell you that this is one of the scary sights of my parenting career. With my first baby, I was blessed, but spoiled. I lay her down in her big girl bed and two or three months later she figured out that she could actually get out of the bed herself...she had also never figured out how to spring herself from her crib. Suffice it to say, this is yet another point on which my kids are diametrically opposed.
I could say I am grateful for my first being such an angel and I am. Extremely grateful and now realizing how lucky I had it. I am slightly bitter, however, that she taught me none of the parenting skills I need to raise Liam. It appears that these two opposites, these yin and yang siblings, have exposed me to two completely different sides of parenting. I feel unequipped.
Anyhow, on with the story. Today, Liam jumped the rails of his crib repeatedly. When he arrived at the top of the stairs for the fourth time, I put him in the big boy bed in his room instead of the crib. He wailed for an hour and a half, but eventually zonked out. I only had to make about a bazillion trips in there to tell him to lie down, beg him to go to sleep, assure him he was NOT coming downstairs and finally get him to STAY IN HIS BED AND GO TO SLEEP.
So, tonight, I protected myself from myself and disassembled his crib. If the big boy bed is one of the scariest images for a parent, the disassembled crib is one of the most poignant. The baby is not a baby anymore. The bed that has housed the bambino for over two years, is now going to be retired. The screws, stripped from all the rocking, banging and bouncing, have been removed. I tried to get some artsy shots to show you what I was feeling. I took some pictures of the crib rails on their sides. I got a shot looking up at the crib pieces in a tent formation.
And then I noticed this...Liam had tried to 'bix tings with his drewdriver." Here is what I saw...
2 comments:
Oh, my! And girl, how well I can relate to what you wrote. Emma slept in her crib happily until she was nearly 3 years old. Cate, on the other hand, has been in a twin sized bed since she was 18 months old for the same reason you just moved Liam. :)
Good luck!
I LOVE the screwdriver shot! And I totally agree with the poignancy of the disassembled crib. Ours was basically a death trap by the time Oliver got through with it, so it's sadly heading to the dump when we can find time. We did pass down the mattress though...
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