Of butterflies and big girl beds...

We finally moved the little one into her "big girl" bed. And lo and behold, she's slept right through the night ever since. What was I thinking keeping her in the crib? It took an early morning crib rescue to convince the both of us (little G and myself) that she was indeed ready for the big time.

I woke up at around 2 AM the other night to the sound of my little girl crying. Which is not too unusual, really. I think the one thing that parenthood has taught me is that there's no longer such a thing as a good night's sleep - I'm lucky if I can squeeze in a good five hours before waking. It's such a habit that even when my kids do sleep through the night, I'll still wake up in anticipation - my body's internal clock is now programmed. What a drag.

But this particular time, there was a little more sense of urgency in G's cries. As I walked into the bedroom, I saw her sitting up, and in the hazy light cast by Winnie the Pooh's plug in, I could see the tears rolling down her face and her leg awkardly positioned with her ankle wedged between the corner rung of the crib. Uh-oh. Try as I might, I couldn't pull her leg up or out by sliding it either which way.

Finally I snapped out of my sleepy fog and had to reposition her so she turned her body into a crawling position away from me. Meanwhile, she was wailing as of course, she was still half-asleep herself. Poor little G. We had to face the facts -she really should be in a big girl bed now.

This fact probably hit me the hardest. The crib, it's the quintessential symbol of "baby". And after the little princess, there ain't no more babies in this household. So we've been okay with the fact that she's just loved her crib, and was reluctant on all counts to pass this down to her cousins baby J or R. I'm a little bit sad.

So what's a Mom to do when she's sad, but to embark on a little retail therapy. I hit Winners the very next day on a mission. To find the cutest "big girl" bedding possible. And we struck the jackpot with a some wonderful purchases:

-a duvet set with butterly designs just perfect, for a perfect little princess;

-a toddler gardening tool set to tend to our landscaping with her green thumb daddy
-some new shoes for mommy. After all, there's always room for new shoes in my closet.


And the crib? Well, it's still in the little G's room, complete with new occupants.
Shhhhhhhhh.....



We figure we'll leave it there until she (the landlady) decides to move it. But only when Mommy and Daddy are ready.